Bangladesh will hold a national election and a democratic reform referendum on February 12, with the BNP tipped to win as the Awami League is banned
DHAKA: Bangladesh will hold national polls on February 12, its electoral commission announced.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said a referendum on a landmark democratic reform charter will also be held on the same day.
The announcement marks the country’s first election since a student-led uprising toppled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year.
The Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people has been in political turmoil since Hasina was overthrown in August 2024, ending her 15-year autocratic rule.
Her former ruling Awami League party has been banned from running in the election.
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus will step down after the polls.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner returned from exile in August 2024 at the behest of protesters to lead a caretaker government.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by three-time former prime minister Khaleda Zia, is widely tipped to win.
Zia is currently in intensive care in Dhaka, suffering from years of ill health.
Her son and political heir Tarique Rahman has been in exile in Britain for 17 years and is yet to return.
Rahman, known in Bangladesh as Tarique Zia, says he fled to London due to politically-motivated persecution.
He has stated he will run in the polls and remains a favourite to be the next prime minister.
He has not yet returned to visit his mother in intensive care. – AFP
