Next year’s election to mark major test for post-Hasina Bangladesh: Kugelman

UNB:
South Asia affairs expert Michael Kugelman has said Bangladesh will go through a major test for a post-Hasina era as the interim government unveiled its plan to host the next national election in February next.

“Bangladesh hasn’t experienced free and fair elections for a long time, and next year’s polls will mark a major test for a post-Hasina Bangladesh,” said Kugelman in Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

On Tuesday, Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus announced that the country will hold elections next February.

The Office of the Chief Adviser on Wednesday sent a letter to the Election Commission requesting it to complete all preparations to hold the next parliamentary elections before Ramadan in February 2026.

With this letter, the formalities of the government’s request to the Election Commission to arrange the election have been completed.

In the letter sent to the EC, Chief Adviser’s Principal Secretary M Siraz Uddin Miah requested him to take all necessary measures to arrange a “free, fair, peaceful and festive” national election of the expected quality within the specified time.

On Tuesday, Bangladesh marked one year since mass protests prompted longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to India.
“Hasina’s departure came after weeks of student-led demonstrations against her authoritarian rule, which prompted the country’s security forces to brutally crack down on protesters, resulting in the death of more than 1,400 people,” Kugelman said.

He said Hasina’s ouster has had massive political implications in a country that was ruled by her Awami League for more than 15 consecutive years.

Today, Kugelman said, Bangladeshis are generally happier and freer than they were during the Hasina era, but the “post-revolution honeymoon” is a distant memory.

The country’s interim government, led by Nobel laureate Prof Yunus, has struggled to stabilise the economy and strengthen law and order, he said.

“Meanwhile, as Salil Tripathi writes in Foreign Policy this week, the country’s cycle of retributive politics has continued to persist,’ he mentioned.

Indeed, many protest leaders — some of whom served in the interim government before leaving earlier this year to form a new political party — have insisted on following through on ambitious structural reforms promised immediately after Hasina’s fall, Kugelman said.

“But progress has lagged, leaving many Bangladeshis frustrated,” he observed.

“The election is approaching. If you live away from your home constituency, begin visiting regularly from now. Prepare yourself to help elect the most deserving candidate,” Prof Yunus said in his televised speech on Tuesday.

“As you cast your vote, let the faces of those whose fresh blood restored this sacred right appear before your eyes,” he said, noting that February is not far away.
Prof Yunus said the days of preparation will pass quickly, and soon, it will be election day.

After so many years of being denied, Prof Yunus said, they will all vote and no one will be left behind.

“Let us all proudly say: On the journey to building a new Bangladesh, I will cast my vote. And it was my vote that helped this country set out on that path,” Prof Yunus said.

The Chief Adviser called on every citizen, “Let us pass the first great test in building a new Bangladesh, together, successfully.”