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Khaleda Zia, who became Bangladesh’s first female prime minister in 1991 and went on to develop a bitter rivalry with Sheikh Hasina as they spent decades trading power, has died after a long illness. She was 80.
Her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said she died after a prolonged illness on Tuesday. She had advanced cirrhosis of the liver, arthritis, diabetes, and chest and heart problems, her doctors said.
Known by her first name, Khaleda went to London for medical treatment in early 2025, staying for four months before returning home.
Though she had been out of power since 2006 and had spent several years in jail or under house arrest, she and her centre-right BNP continued to command much support.
The upcoming parliamentary elections in February see the BNP positioned as the likely favorite to win.
Her son and the party’s acting chair, Tarique Rahman, 60, returned to the country last week after nearly 17 years in self-exile and is widely seen as a strong candidate to become prime minister.
Since August 2024, after a student-led uprising led to Hasina’s removal, Bangladesh has been run by an interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace laureate and microfinance pioneer.
Back in November, Hasina faced a death sentence in absentia due to her harsh response to student demonstrations.
Khaleda was described as shy and devoted to raising her two sons until her husband, military leader and then-president Ziaur Rahman, was assassinated in an attempted army coup in 1981.
Three years later, she became the head of the BNP, which her husband had founded, and vowed to deliver on his aim of “liberating Bangladesh from poverty and economic backwardness”.
In a historic alliance, she partnered with Hasina, whose father was Bangladesh’s founding leader, and who heads the Awami League. Together, they spearheaded a movement for democracy that ultimately brought down military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad in 1990.
But their cooperation did not last long. Their bitter rivalry would lead to the two being dubbed “the battling Begums” — a phrase that uses an Urdu honorific for prominent women.
Supporters saw her as polite and traditional yet quietly stylish, someone who chose her words carefully. But they also viewed her as a bold, uncompromising leader when it came to defending her party and confronting her rivals.
Hasina, by contrast, was far more outspoken and assertive. Their opposing personalities fueled the rivalry that dominated Bangladesh’s politics for decades.
In 1991, Bangladesh held what was hailed as its first free election. Khaleda won a surprise victory over Hasina.
This pivotal moment paved the way for Khaleda to become Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, marking her as only the second woman to lead a democratic government in a predominantly Muslim country, following Benazir Bhutto’s election in Pakistan three years prior.
Khaleda replaced the presidential system with a parliamentary one, so that power rested with the prime minister. She also lifted restrictions on foreign investment and made primary education compulsory and free.
She lost to Hasina in the 1996 general election but came back five years later with a surprise landslide win.
Her second stint as prime minister ended in 2006 when an army-backed interim government took power amid political instability and street violence.
