Elections in Bangladesh announced, but justice and reforms remain centre stage

Indian Express

3 hours ago

The biggest takeaway from the televised pre-Eid speech of Muhammad Yunus must have been a concrete timeframe for when Bangladesh will hold elections. Bangladesh's 10-month-old transitional government — constituted after the July Monsoon Revolution last year — has decided to hold general elections in the first half of April 2026, thereby paving the way for a democratic transition. As we understand, the country's reconstituted Election Commission will announce a specific polling date and roadmap in the run-up to the polls.
The announcement has definitely rekindled hope that over 120 million voters will finally be able to exercise their right to vote after years, following sham elections under the now-deposed Sheikh Hasina. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which had ruled the country four times earlier and sees the current tide in its favour to make it five, is not happy with the election timeline offered by the transitional government. It still insists on holding the election by the end of this year (December 2025). Other key political stakeholders are somewhat content with the April 2026 timeline.
But the biggest question on the minds of the average Bangladeshi now is: Was the July Revolution only about holding an election? Or was it something more than that? Wasn't it an aspiration to live in a Bangladesh where rules are justice-based and critical democratic reform agendas are rightly pushed through?
In fact, Yunus rightly tried to address those concerns, reflecting on issues that go beyond the immediate agenda of holding an election. If not more, he is equally interested in seizing this post-July Revolution window of opportunity to push through critical reforms that would have lasting impacts on the country's future democratic adherence. Through his latest speech addressing the nation, his transitional government made it unequivocally clear that it would ensure justice for enforced disappearances and the suppression of dissent during Hasina's rule.
It is to the credit of the Yunus-led government that it has largely managed to enjoy public trust in its resolve to focus on three things before transferring power to an elected government. These, essentially, are justice, reforms, and elections. The Yunus-led transitional government has the mandate of thousands of young revolutionaries who either sacrificed their lives or endured the brutal force unleashed by the regime during July–August last year. The injured and the comrades of those who lost their lives would not allow the transitional government to get away with merely holding an election, without advancing the causes of justice.
In his address, Yunus mentioned that, so far, over 800 people have taken part in public hearings held on hundreds of incidents of enforced disappearances. Injustices, including the fabrication of cases and corruption, are all being addressed as the current government proceeds with a judicial process to try Sheikh Hasina and many of her associates for these offences.
His government wants to introduce a July Declaration, imbued with the spirit and aspirations of last year's Monsoon Revolution, in which all parties would make a formal commitment that, whoever comes to power next, will endorse the minimum agreed-upon reform agendas in the first session of the new elected parliament. Yunus has also expressed his firm resolve not to leave everything to the next government, adding that the interim government has already implemented 129 reform proposals across 54 ministries.
What Yunus and his team essentially want is to ensure that this reform momentum does not lose steam with the departure of the transitional government after the April 2026 election. After all, the people of Bangladesh, irrespective of party affiliations, by and large prioritise the idea of justice, reform, and elections above all else.
The writer is the acting editor of the Dhaka Tribune