Sheikh Hasina was sworn in for her second spell as Bangladesh's prime minister Tuesday, restoring democracy to the impoverished country after almost two years of rule by an army-backed regime. Right after she took her oath of office, Hasina immediately allocated portfolios to her 23 Cabinet members, offering the Finance Ministry to economist Abul Maal Abdul Muhit. The Foreign and Home Ministries went, for the first time, to women legislators. Hasina named senior Supreme Court lawyer Sahara Khatun to head the Home (interior) Ministry and the leader of her Awami League (AL) women's front, Dipu Moni, to head foreign affairs. Hasina appointed retired air force chief A.K. Khandaker as her planning minister and former army colonel Faruk Khan as commerce minister. The Agriculture Ministry went to Begum Motia Chowdhury, who held the same post in Hasina's 1996-2001 government. Hasina, winner of last month's parliamentary election, was sworn in as prime minister for a second five-year term on Tuesday by President Iajuddin Ahmed, ending two years of rule by an army-backed interim government. Iajuddin also administered the oath to Hasina's ministers, hours before she allocated them ministries. The chief of the powerful army, General Moeen U. Ahmed, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus joined some 1,000 foreign diplomats, government officials and MPs at the ceremony. Hasina's Awami League party won a landslide victory in general elections last week that were hailed as “free and fair” by independent observers. Campaigning and voting for the elections was generally peaceful, in marked contrast to the unrest that caused polls to be cancelled in 2007, when at least 35 people died in violence over allegations of vote rigging. The unrest brought Bangladesh to a standstill, leading to a state of emergency as the army stepped in to impose an interim authority that held power until Tuesday's ceremony. The Awami League won 230 seats out of a possible 300, giving her a clear majority to govern without forming a coalition. However the new prime minister, who also ruled between 1996 and 2001, has indicated she wants to end the confrontational politics that has paralysed Bangladeshi politics for decades. “I feel in the parliamentary system we can work together. I am ready to work with everyone,” she said following her victory. Both Hasina and her rival Khaleda Zia, who is also an ex-PM and leads the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), were jailed for a year by the outgoing army-backed government on corruption charges.
