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| | NDI - National Democratic Institute |
 | | Bangladesh is a young country whose transition to democracy has been limited by strong tensions between the main political parties, resulting in regular parliamentary boycotts, street demonstrations, and hartals (general strikes). |
 | | Through a four-party coalition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Jamaat-e-Islami, Jatiya Party (Naziur) and Islami Oikya Jote captured a two-thirds majority of seats in Parliament during the October 2001 general election. |
 | | The delegation's statement was well received by the Bangladesh public and media, and an agreement was brokered between the political parties to stop using hartals, to support domestic election monitoring efforts, to prevent the use of violence during the election period, to increase the number of women representatives in parliament, and to not boycott parliament. |
| www.ndi.org /worldwide/asia/bangladesh/bangladesh.asp (1102 words) |
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