Bangladesh democracy: The quinquennial exercise, the national election, always brings forth pious utterances of the political parties – the two main ones in particular – about the state of democracy, how it has been reduced to nothingness by the other party, and of resuscitating it if elected to power.
On February 3, 1983, in a dramatic series of events, the Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser called a snap double dissolution and announced a forthcoming federal election. On the same day, the ALP leader Bill Hayden stepped down in favour of Bob Hawke, ensuring a political battle would follow between Hawke and Fraser.