The ruling Awami league and its alliance partners are likely to form the new Cabinet on Saturday, January 5, after registering a landslide victory in the 11th general election on Sunday.
The Awami League-led 14-party Alliance and Grand Alliance secured 288 out of 298 seats to take office for the third consecutive term.
According to Awami League senior brass, the ruling party plans to form the new cabinet on Saturday, while elected lawmakers will take their oaths on Thursday, January 3.
On condition of anonymity, a member of the present Cabinet told the Dhaka Tribune the Cabinet Division was already making arrangements to hold the oath taking ceremony for new cabinet members on Saturday, as per Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s instructions.
Earlier on Tuesday, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said the party was hopeful of forming a new Cabinet by January 10, which is celebrated as Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day.
“Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned home on January 10, 1972. After the landslide victory, Awami League is hopeful that new cabinet members will take their oath before January 10 to mark the day," he said.
He added that the gazette notification on the swearing-in ceremony for newly elected lawmakers would be issued within a couple of days.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said newly-elected lawmakers would be sworn into parliament on January 3.
An election commissioner said although necessary preparations were being taken to issue the gazette notification on the new Cabinet, it is yet to be determined when the gazette notification would actually be issued.
On Sunday, December 30, Awami League-led alliances clinched a resounding victory in the 11th general election, winning 97% of the seats in parliament.
Awami League’s arch political rival BNP and Jatiya Oikya Front bagged only seven seats.
According to Awami League, party President Sheikh Hasina is set to become the prime minister for the third consecutive time, a record in Bangladesh.
Previously, Awami League and its alliance won with more than two-thirds majority in the 2008 and 2014 general polls under Sheikh Hasina’s leadership.
In 2014, the general election was held on January 5, and cabinet was subsequently formed on January 12.
Sheikh Hasina was sworn in as the prime minister for the first time in 1996, steering her party to power after a gap of 21 years.