DHAKA: Amid mounting pressure and demands for spelling out the timeline for holding polls, the country’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus on Friday announced national elections in Bangladesh will be held in April next year.
The country plunged into political uncertainty after then prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted last year and was forced to flee and take shelter in India as protests and violence broke out.
“The Election Commission will provide you with a detailed roadmap for the elections at an appropriate time,” Chief Adviser Yunus said.
The much-awaited announcement comes amid recent protests by the former premier Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) demanding elections by December this year.
During a televised address to the nation, Yunus said the Election Commission will provide a detailed roadmap in due course, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.
“There is immense public and political interest regarding the timing of the election. As I’ve said before, it will be held between December and June. The government is working to ensure an environment conducive to a credible election within this timeframe,” he said.
“The government has held discussions with all parties to organise the most free, fair, competitive and acceptable elections in history. In addition, after reviewing the ongoing reform activities related to justice, reform and elections, I am announcing to the people of the country today that the next national elections will be held on a day in the first half of April 2026,” Yunus said.
Yunus, who took charge after the former premier Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government was dethroned in August last year, said that the government’s key responsibility is to hold a clean, peaceful, festive, and inclusive election.
“Our goal is to prevent future crises. That requires institutional reform. Without ensuring good governance in the institutions directly linked to the electoral process, all the sacrifices made by students and citizens will be in vain,” the 84-year-old Nobel Laureate said.
He reiterated that the current administration was formed with three mandates: reform, justice, and election.
“We believe that by the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr, we will reach a broadly acceptable position on reforms and justice — particularly in addressing crimes against humanity, as part of our collective duty to the martyrs of the July uprising,” he said.
On May 28, BNP intensified pressure on the Yunus-led interim government as tens of thousands of youths staged a massive rally demanding elections by December.
“The national election must be held by December. Preparations must begin immediately,” BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman said as he joined the rally through a virtual platform from London.
The announcement came a week after Yunus, during his visit to Japan, announced that the next national elections could be held anytime between December this year and June 2026.
Bangladesh has been without a permanent elected government since Shiekh Hasina’s exile in August 2024, following nationwide violent protests. After Hasina’s ouster, Yunus took control of the interim government as its Chief Advisor. Ever since Yunus’s ascent to the top Bangladesh’s bilateral relations with India have been strained, first over violent attacks against religious minorities, including Hindus, and then over Yunus’s controversial statements regarding India.
On June 1, Bangladeshi prosecutors at the International Crimes Tribunal formally charged former prime minister Sheikh Hasina of crimes against humanity during the mass uprising in the country last year, as per local media. In the prevailing scenario and considering the ban on Awami League’s activities, prospects of the party’s participation in the general elections look extremely bleak. The BNP, in such a scenario, is likely to emerge as a strong contender in the elections. The caretaker government’s administration is run by a number of advisors and student activists.