E-Paper
Yunus buys peace with poll announcement
His decision will allow him to cling to office for nearly a year and execute his so-called reforms
After much prodding from Bangladesh’s political parties and the military, interim government chief Muhammad Yunus has made an announcement that a general election will be held sometime in April 2026. He has still not set a firm date, saying April was chosen after a review of reforms in justice, governance, and the electoral process. Yunus’s announcement clearly went against the call from the army and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), currently the main political force, to hold the election by the end of the year. The BNP has listed sound reasons against holding the election in April, including the onset of both summer and the Islamic month of Ramzan, while the military has made it clear that an elected government needs to be in place to decide on crucial issues that aren’t within the remit of the caretaker administration.
Yunus’s decision will allow him to cling to office for nearly a year and execute his so-called reforms. The decision also appeared to be aimed at helping the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) to strengthen itself for entering the electoral battlefield. Bangladesh’s interim government had three crucial mandates when it took over last August after the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina regime — justice, reform, and elections. On the first, the administration has taken some credible steps to address the fallout of authoritarianism during the final years of Awami League rule and to hold to account those responsible for a widespread crackdown on dissenters. On the second, its focus appears to be more on erasing the legacy of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League’s contributions to the liberation of Bangladesh. The jury is still out on whether Yunus will deliver on his promise of holding free and fair elections.
