Dhaka:
Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who heads the transitional government installed after the August Revolution, said on Monday that a general election would be held late next year or early 2026.
Pressure has increased on Nobel laureate Yunus – appointed the country’s ‘chief adviser’ after the student-led uprising that toppled ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August – to set a date.
The 84-year-old microfinance pioneer is leading an interim government to tackle the “extremely tough” challenge of restoring democratic institutions in the South Asian country of about 170 million people.
“The election dates could be set at the end of 2025 or the first half of 2026,” he said in a broadcast on state television.
Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to neighboring India as thousands of protesters entered the Prime Minister’s Palace in Dhaka.
Her government was also accused of politicizing the courts and civil service and organizing lopsided elections to dismantle democratic checks on her power.
Hasina’s 15-year rule saw widespread human rights violations, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.
Yunus has set up committees to oversee a series of reforms he says are needed, and setting an election date depends on what political parties agree on.
“I have always emphasized that reforms must take place before elections are organised,” he said.
“If the political parties agree to hold the elections at an earlier date with minimal reforms such as a spotless voter list, the elections could take place by the end of November,” he added.
But including the full list of electoral reforms would delay the polls by a few months, he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)