News Analysis: Bangladesh election 2026 The Race to Win begins: Economy, legitimacy and the fight for power
Editorial Desk :
Bangladesh’s election campaign has officially begun, opening a short but politically decisive three-week window before voting day on 12 February.
While multiple parties and independents are in the race, public attention is increasingly narrowing toward one central battle: the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), still slightly ahead in key surveys, versus Jamaat-e-Islami, whose resurgence has turned it into the most closely watched challenger.
This is not simply a competition for seats. It is shaping into a national debate about what kind of state Bangladesh should be after years of political frustration, economic pressure, and widespread demand for credible governance.
BNP chairman Tarique Rahman began his campaign messaging by leaning into the cost-of-living crisis and welfare politics.
The party announced plans and campaign programmes across the country and promoted its headline pledge: providing “family cards” to 40 million families if elected – a promise designed to speak directly to inflation-battered households and working-class anxieties.
But BNP also chose confrontation. BNP speakers revived Jamaat’s Liberation War baggage – a strategic attempt to weaken Jamaat’s growing appeal, particularly among young voters who did not live through 1971 but are politically active in the post-Hasina moment.
BNP is seeking to position itself as the only mainstream force capable of “resetting” the state without pushing the country into ideological uncertainty.
It is also attempting to win confidence from business communities and global observers by implying that a BNP return would help restore predictability.
Jamaat hits BNP where it hurts: lawlessness and corruption
BNP’s headline campaign pledge – issuing a “Family Card” for 40 million households – has triggered a fierce political backlash, with rivals warning it could become the biggest “vote-buying scheme” in Bangladesh’s electoral history and raising serious questions over affordability, corruption risk, and implementation.
“This is not assistance. This is an election bribe,” Jamaat leaders claimed at rallies, framing the proposal as a return of “old-style money politics,” while demanding BNP publish a funding plan and clear eligibility rules.
Jamaat, meanwhile, aimed directly at BNP’s public image problem – allegations of street muscle politics. Jamaat Ameer Shafiqur Rahman declared his party would not take or allow extortion, describing the need to end “illegal tax collection” under political cover.
Jamaat’s messaging frames itself as a “clean hands” alternative at a time when voters are exhausted by decades of corruption, impunity and partisan violence.
Jamaat’s rise, however, is forcing BNP to compete on new terrain. Jamaat is no longer campaigning only as a religiously rooted party.
It is actively presenting itself as a reform movement, selling a “clean governance” identity aimed at a population exhausted by corruption scandals and elite impunity.
It has also strengthened its welfare-based messaging, framing itself as closer to ordinary people and less captured by entrenched political privilege.
This reframing is working because Bangladeshi voters are not entering this election with the emotional energy of past cycles. Many are politically fatigued.
Their priorities are concrete: prices, jobs, safety, and stability. In such conditions, the party that convinces voters it can deliver order and affordability can gain ground quickly-especially among undecided citizens.
Ultimately, the BNP-Jamaat contest reflects Bangladesh’s wider national crossroads. BNP represents a return to conventional party governance with an emphasis on democratic restoration and economic stabilisation.
Jamaat represents a disruptive alternative: a welfare-driven, discipline-based message paired with ideological uncertainty.
Whichever side gains the edge, the election is already changing Bangladesh’s political centre of gravity.
The campaign that begun will therefore decide more than a winner. It will decide whether Bangladesh moves toward a familiar stability model-or into a new era where ideological politics redefines national life.