Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus today said that the country’s general elections would likely be held late next year (2025) or in early 2026, according to an AFP report.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus (84), took charge as head of the caretaker government installed after an August 2024 student-led revolution pushed out the Sheikh Hasina regime. He was appointed chief adviser and is facing pressure to set a date for the general elections, the report added.
Yunus has deemed the challenges ahead for his temporary administration to be “extremely tough” as it seeks to restore democratic institutions in the neighbouring country. Bangladesh ahs a population of 170 million people.
“Election dates could be fixed by the end of 2025 or the first half of 2026,” he said in a broadcast on state television.
Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to neighbouring India as thousands of protesters stormed the prime minister’s palace in Dhaka.
Her government was also accused of politicising courts and the civil service, as well as staging lopsided elections, to dismantle democratic checks on its power.
Hasina’s 15-year rule saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.
Yunus has launched commissions to oversee a raft of reforms he says are needed, and setting an election date depends on what political parties agree.
“Throughout, I have emphasised that reforms should take place first before the arrangements for an election,” he said.
“If the political parties agree to hold the election on an earlier date with minimum reforms, such as having a flawless voter list, the election could be held by the end of November,” he added.
But including the full list of electoral reforms would delay polls by a few months, he said.