Bangladesh to elect first woman speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury

Dhaka: Bangladesh is set to elect the country’s first-ever woman Speaker of Parliament as the ruling Awami League nominated State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury to run the house on Monday night.

A lawyer by profession, Chaudhury came into the spotlight when she fought cases for Awami League president and incumbent Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina while she was on trial for several charges during the past military-backed interim government.

The Awami League Parliamentary Party declared her nomination on Monday night, days after Speaker Abdul Hamid took oath as the president, relinquishing the chair in parliament.

The nomination of Chaudhury, who is in her mid 40s, means her election is all but guaranteed even if the polls are contested by the opposition in the house where Awami League enjoys three-fourths majority.

Chaudhury’s nomination, however, surprised many analysts as Deputy Speaker Shawkat Ali, a veteran politician and Independence Movement veteran having a background in the army, was discharging duties as Acting Speaker.

Chaudhury is the International Affairs Secretary of the Awami League. She was elected MP from one of the parliamentary seats reserved for women on March 24, 2009.

Her father Rafiqullah Chaudhury was a personal secretary and close associate of Bangladesh’s founder and former Prime Minister Bangabandhu Shaikh.

On a Commonwealth Scholarship, she did her PhD in human rights and constitutional laws from Essex University in the United Kingdom in 2000.

Chaudhury has a son and daughter with Syed I. Hussain, a pharmaceutical consultant.