Sheikh Hasina: Longest Serving Female Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina Wazed and her party the Awami League (AL) has won the national elections of Bangladesh for the fourth consecutive term in office as Prime Minister. This has made her the longest serving female head of government in the world and the longest serving Bangladeshi Prime Minister. She has been in this post since 2009. This is the fifth victory for the AL. The main opposition party of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) headed by Khalida Zia, boycotted the elections and created a void in the country for a strong opposition to contest Hasina. Both Hasina and Zia had actually joined hands against the autocratic regime of Hussain Muhammad Ershad and were key in bringing that regime to an end. Since then, there has been a tussle between these two leaders of Bangladesh with their parties AL and BNP opposing each other.