(1945-)
Bangladeshi conservative politician, prime minister from 1991. Leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) from 1984, she successfully oversaw the transition from presidential to democratic parliamentary government.
In 1958 she married Captain Zia ur Rahman who assumed power in a military coup 1976. He became president 1977, and was assassinated 1981. Begum Khaleda Zia then entered opposition politics, becoming leader of the BNP 1984. In 1990 she helped form a seven-party alliance, whose pressure for a more democratic regime resulted in the toppling of General Ershad, a long-standing military ruler, during whose regime she had been detained seven times.