Interim leader Muhammad Yunus said implementing a full list of electoral reforms could delay elections by several months.
Bangladesh’s general elections will be held in late 2025 or early 2026, interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who heads the interim government formed after the August popular revolution, has announced.
“The date for the elections could be decided by the end of 2025 or early 2026,” the Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader said on state television on Monday, broadcast on the 53rd anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence.
Pressure is mounting on Yunus, who was appointed the country’s “chief adviser” following the student-led uprising that toppled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to set a date for elections.
Bangladesh’s army chief Waqel-uz-Zaman, who was forced to step down after refusing to support Hasina during the deadly student protests, was forced to resign in September after the 12-18 He said he should recover within a month.
Opposition parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), one of the country’s two largest political parties along with Awami League, are also calling for elections to be held as soon as possible.
Yunus has set up a committee to oversee a series of reforms he says are needed, and setting an election date is subject to agreement among political parties.
“I have consistently emphasized that reforms must come first before preparing for elections,” he said.
“If the parties agree to hold elections early, with minimal reforms such as creating complete voter lists, elections could be held…by the end of 2025.” he added.
But he said including the full list of electoral reforms would delay polls by several months.
“Extremely tough” reforms
The 84-year-old microfinance pioneer faces what he calls the “very tough” task of restoring democratic institutions in the South Asian country of about 170 million people after Hasina’s ouster. He is leading an interim government to tackle the issue.
Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to neighboring India on August 5 as thousands of protesters stormed the prime minister’s official residence in Dhaka.
Hundreds of people died in the weeks before Hasina’s ouster, most of them in police gunfire.
Dozens more people died in the hours after her overthrow, mostly in reprisal killings of prominent Awami League supporters.
The government was also accused of politicizing courts and civil servants and holding biased elections to dismantle democratic checks on power during its 14 years in power.
Key to the reforms Mr. Yunus is pushing is updating voter rolls, a “complex” task that has seen years of disruption to the democratic process, the removal of false names from rolls and a rapidly growing young population. Both are required for first-time voter registration.
Yunus said he dreams of “ensuring 100% turnout” in the polls.
“If we can accomplish this, no government will ever disenfranchise its people again,” he said.
Bangladesh’s last general election was held in January, when Hasina celebrated her victory, but the vote was criticized as neither free nor fair and was followed by a crackdown that saw thousands of opposition politicians arrested and rival factions boycotted.
Yunus said his administration was focused on ensuring those guilty of abuses during past government terms were brought to justice, including by issuing an arrest warrant for Hasina.
