1979 Bangladeshi general election

General elections were held in Bangladesh on 18 February 1979. The result was a victory for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the party of the incumbent military regime, which won 207 of the 300 directly elected seats, although it only won 41% of the vote. Voter turnout was 51%. The Awami League became the main opposition party after winning 39 seats.

The elections were organized by the military regime in Bangladesh. The elections were postponed twice, as they were initially supposed to be held in December 1978. The political opposition in Bangladesh intended to boycott the elections unless the military regime withdrew martial law, assured that there would be a parliamentary system, released political prisoners, and restored full press freedom. Ziaur Rahman made some concessions to the opposition, but they fell short of their full demands. Subsequently, some opposition parties decided to take part in the elections.