The current unitary parliamentary republic system of governance in Bangladesh is operated through a unicameral legislature known as the Jatiya Sangsad (National Assembly).
The current Jatiya Sangsad has a composition of 350 Members of Parliament (MPs). 300 MPs are directly elected from parliamentary constituencies during general elections based on the first-past-the-post electoral system. The remaining 50 seats are allocated to women MPs based on the proportion of general seats won by each party in parliament; for every six general seats won, a party is allocated one women seat.
The Jatiya Sangsad can be understood as a successor institution of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly and East Bengal Legislative Assembly. If one analyzes the historical background of the Jatiya Sangsad then it can be observed that the parliamentary structure of Bangladesh resembles more of a provincial legislature rather than an independent republic.
Since liberation in 1971, the republic has fluctuated between the presidential and parliamentary systems due to the ongoing phenomenon of regime oscillations in Bangladesh. However, the highly centralized unitary-unicameral construct of the Bangladeshi State remained unchallenged by every regime that prevailed over the country. The last attempt at decentralization was made by General Hossain Mohammad Ershad through the Local Government Ordinance that introduced the upazila (sub-district) and union parishad (Union Councils) system as administrative units of governance in Bangladesh.
It is important to note that Bangladesh has experienced tremendous political and demographic changes since its genesis. In 1970, the erstwhile East Pakistan had a population of 65 million - today Bangladesh has a population of over 165 million.
I make the argument that a sovereign country of such a size cannot be governed efficiently through a one unitary-unicameral legislative house of 350 MPs. Therefore, Bangladesh should transform its political system into a bicameral-federal republic.
In order for Bangladesh to become a federation the current eight administrative divisions; Rangpur, Rajshahi, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Dhaka, Khulna, Barisal, and Chittagong -- plus the two new tentative divisions of Meghna and Padma should be converted into 10 new autonomous provinces.
The population of these new provinces will be larger than many countries in the world. Each of these new provinces should have its own: provincial assembly, capital city, chief minister, cabinet, governor, secretariat, police force, civil service, and bureaucracy.
The most important benefit of decentralization will be the reduction of population growth in Dhaka city. The establishment of new provinces will create a great number of employment opportunities outside Dhaka. This will remove the necessity of migration from the periphery regions to the country’s capital.
It will also incentivize reverse migration for those who struggle keeping up with the cost of living in Dhaka to the other regions in Bangladesh. This will inevitably cause a crowding out effect in Dhaka -- thus easing the capital’s traffic congestion and housing crisis.
The parliament of Bangladesh should consist of the Jatiya Sangsad as a lower house and a Senate as the upper house. The senators should be in-directly elected through the 10 provincial assemblies. There should also be permanent reserved seats for women, non-Muslims and non-Bengali tribal minorities.
I also suggest that the first-past-the-post electoral system should be abolished in Bangladesh and replaced with proportional representation elections. This will enable political parties to obtain seats using whatever support they have across the country or province rather than confining themselves to certain regional strongholds.
It will also reduce the dependence of political parties on the local power brokers and petty bourgeoisie who have the financial resources to fund electoral campaigns in the constituency.
In conclusion, this massive overhaul of the construct of the Bangladeshi state requires the abrogation of the 1972 constitution in favour of a brand new constitution that should be ultimately approved by the people of Bangladesh through a free and fair referendum.
The second republic that I propose should be officially named the “Federal Republic of Bangladesh.”
In order to achieve Shonar Bangla (golden Bengal) a major reconstruction of the republic is a sine qua non. It will be dangerous for Bangladesh to continue to operate in the haphazard way it has been functioning for the last half century.
Anish Mishra is an expert analyst on South and Southeast Asian domestic politics and foreign policy. He is a PhD candidate at the Institut für Politische Wissenschaft (IPW), Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of Heidelberg University, Germany. He can be contacted at [email protected].
