# 1979 Bangladeshi general election

General elections were held in Bangladesh on 18 February 1979. The result was a victory for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the party of the incumbent military regime, which won 207 of the 300 directly elected seats, although it only won 41% of the vote. Voter turnout was 51%. The Awami League became the main opposition party after winning 39 seats.
The elections were organized by the military regime in Bangladesh. The elections were postponed twice, as they were initially supposed to be held in December 1978. The political opposition in Bangladesh intended to boycott the elections, unless the military regime the military regime withdrew martial law, assured that there would be a parliamentary system, released political prisoners, and restored full press freedom. Ziaur Rahman made some concessions to the opposition, but the fell short of their full demands. Subsequently some opposition parties decided to take part in the elections.

## Results

Seats :
| Party | Party | Votes | % | General | Reserved | Total | +/– |
| | Bangladesh Nationalist Party | 7,934,236 | 41.17 | 207 | 30 | 237 | New |
| | Awami League | 4,734,277 | 24.56 | 39 | 0 | 39 | –269 |
| | Bangladesh Muslim League–Islamic Democratic League | 1,941,394 | 10.07 | 20 | 0 | 20 | New |
| | Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal | 931,851 | 4.83 | 8 | 0 | 8 | +7 |
| | Awami League (Mizan) | 535,426 | 2.78 | 2 | 0 | 2 | New |
| | National Awami Party (Muzaffar) | 432,514 | 2.24 | 1 | 0 | 1 | New |
| | United Peoples' Party | 170,955 | 0.89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Bangladesh Gono Front | 115,622 | 0.60 | 2 | 0 | 2 | New |
| | National Awami Party (Nurur-Zahid) | 88,385 | 0.46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Communist Party of Bangladesh | 75,455 | 0.39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist–Leninist) | 74,771 | 0.39 | 1 | 0 | 1 | New |
| | Bangladesh Jatiya League | 69,319 | 0.36 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 |
| | Jatiya Ekata Party | 44,459 | 0.23 | 1 | 0 | 1 | New |
| | Bangladesh Ganatantrik Andolan | 34,259 | 0.18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | New |
| | Jatiyatabadi Ganatantrik Dal | 27,259 | 0.14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | National Awami Party (Naser) | 25,336 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Bangladesh Janata Dal | 18,748 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | National Republican Party for Parity | 14,429 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Jatiya Janata Party | 10,932 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Bangladesh Labour Party | 7,738 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | People's Democratic Party | 5,703 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Sramik Krishak Samajbadi Dal | 4,954 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Bangladesh Democratic Party | 3,564 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Bangladesh Jatiya Mukti Party | 3,363 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Bangladesh Tanti Samity | 1,834 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Bangladesh Nezam-e-Islam Party | 1,575 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Gano Azadi League | 1,378 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | United Republican Party | 389 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Bangladesh Ganatantrik Chashi Dal | 130 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Independents | 1,963,345 | 10.19 | 16 | 0 | 16 | +15 |
| Total | Total | 19,273,600 | 100.00 | 300 | 30 | 330 | +15 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 19,273,600 | 97.95 | | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 402,524 | 2.05 | | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 19,676,124 | 100.00 | | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 38,363,858 | 51.29 | | | | |
| Source: Nohlen et al., IPU, Government of Bangladesh ||||||||