Voters were asked "Should or not the President assent to the Constitution (Twelfth Amendment) Bill, 1991 of the People's Republic of Bangladesh?"

[1] Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led the Awami League during the independence struggle, and served as chief executive of Bangladesh from January 1972 until his assassination in August 1975.

Ahmed's two assigned tasks were to organise and hold general elections as soon as possible, and meanwhile run the country without being overly interventionist.

The Awami League, incorrectly expecting that its organisational strength would allow it to win the elections, favoured a parliamentary system, a change that would require the support of two-thirds of the members of the new parliament and the voters' approval of a referendum.

Since the amendment, critics have argued that the reform did not assure meaningful multiparty participation in lawmaking, as the ruling party often chose to bypass the parliament in making major laws, including the 1994 Anti-Terrorist Bill, by promulgating ordinances instead of submitting proposed legislation to parliamentary committees for scrutiny.