DHAKA, Bangladesh: Bangladesh will head to the polls on February 12, 2026, to elect a new parliament, the Election Commission announced on Thursday, marking the country’s first national election since last year’s student-led uprising that forced former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India.
An interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has since governed the South Asian country of 173 million people.
A national referendum on implementing the ‘July Charter’, a state reform plan drafted after Hasina’s ouster, will also be held on the same day, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said in a national broadcast.
The charter proposes wide-ranging changes to state institutions, including curbing executive powers, strengthening the independence of the judiciary and election authorities, and preventing the misuse of law-enforcement agencies.
The country’s former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is widely seen as the frontrunner in the upcoming polls, competing alongside the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which has returned to electoral politics after the interim government eased restrictions.
Jamaat, Bangladesh’s biggest Islamic party, could not contest elections after a 2013 court ruling that its registration as a political party conflicted with the country’s secular constitution.
The National Citizen Party, formed by student leaders after the 2024 uprising, is seen trailing behind BNP and Jamaat, as it struggles to convert street power into electoral strength.
Hasina’s Awami League has been barred from contesting the election.
Restoring democratic rule, reviving the economy after disruptions hurt the export-driven garment industry, strained ties with India due to New Delhi sheltering Hasina and ensuring media freedom are among the key issues for voters.
