Bangladesh President summons first session of new parliament on March 12

President Mohammad Shahabuddin on Monday summoned the first session of the 13th Parliament on March 12, nearly a month after the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) formed the government after winning the Feb 12 crucial general elections. ''The President convened the session by exercising the authority vested in him under Article 72(1) of the Constitution of Bangladesh,'' a Jatiya Sangsad statement said. It said the first sitting of the maiden session of the new parliament, with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) having a two-thirds majority and far-right Jamaat-e-Islami being the main opposition, would start at 11 am. BNP spokesman and home minister in Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's cabinet, Salahuddin Ahmed, earlier said the session would elect a new speaker. BNP formed the government on February 17, five days after the parliamentary polls. Bangladesh Constitution dictates that President Shahabuddin must summon the inaugural session of the newly elected parliament within 30 days of the gazette notification of election results, based on written advice from Rahman. But it remains unclear who would chair the inaugural sitting of the maiden parliamentary session, as the standard practice demands the last parliament's speaker or, in his/her absence, the deputy speaker, would preside over it solely for the purpose of electing a new Speaker. Speaker Shirin Sharmin Choudhury resigned earlier and now lives in an undisclosed location, while deputy speaker Shamsul Haque Tuku is in jail.