Bangladesh is finally going for National Elections by April 2026

The interim Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Government Dr. Muhammad Yunus has finally announced the holding of national elections in the country in the first half of April next year defying the demand of the main opposition party BNP to hold it in December this year.

- BY NITYA CHAKRABORTY

The final dates will be notified by the Election Commission. The EC will also be notifying the norms as also the criteria for the eligibility of the candidates for contesting the polls

Chief Adviser Dr. Yunus is currently in London on a four day official visit to United Kingdom. He will be meeting the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as also other leading ministers of the Labour government. He is expected to have a meeting with Tarique Rahman, the working chairman of the BNP and the son of the BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia. Tarique is the main strategist of the Bangladesh’s main opposition party. His discussions with Dr. Yunus have special importance in view of the impending elections.

As regards the stand of the opposition parties in Bangladesh, all the parties are preparing for the elections though the BNP still maintains that December is the best time since the months of February and March are not convenient in view of annual school examinations, Ramzan as also the possibility of sudden storms and incessant rains during those months. The Election Commission will take the final view on dates after looking at the representations.

For all parties, now one thing is certain that the national elections are taking place anytime between December and April and they would have to be fully ready for that. The EC will notify the lists of the parties eligible for taking part in the elections, but already, the trend is clear. Excepting the Awami League which has been barred by the law, all other parties including Jamaat El Islami are eligible to participate in the elections.

There may be more than thirty political parties but the main parties presently are the frontrunner BNP, the newly set up the National Citizens Party (NCP) and Jamaat-El-Islami. Other smaller parties and loose fringe left combinations are there but they have not much influence in electoral terms in the present volatile Bangladesh.