&w=3840&q=100)
Bangladesh to hold general elections in first week of Feb 2026: CEC
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin, however said the exact date would be disclosed two months before the schedule was announced.
People have lost confidence in the election system, the Election Commission and the administrative machinery involved in the electoral process, state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) quoted Uddin as saying at a function in northwestern Rangpur district.
Uddin said his office, however, was working tirelessly to restore this lost trust.
The CEC's comments come four days after interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus announced that the polls would be held in February next year. Yunus had made the announcement coinciding with the first anniversary of the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League regime on August 5.
Uddin feared that there was a growing apathy among voters as over the years, people have become disengaged from the voting process but added as long as the Election Commission remains conscious of its responsibilities, all actions will strictly follow the rules, regulations and laws.
Contrary to civic and rights groups' concerns over the law and order situation in the country, Uddin said, the law and order is currently stable and we aim to make it even better so that citizens can vote peacefully and without fear.
The CEC, however, said the exact date of election would be disclosed two months before the schedule was announced while his office was preparing to conduct the polls within a short time frame despite various challenges.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has emerged as the single largest party in Awami League's absence after Yunus' government disbanded its activities under an executive order.
BNP's self-exiled acting chairman and Zia's son Tarique Rahman on Friday said the party and its like-minded partners would take part in the February polls as an alliance.
The BNP earlier formed a 12-party alliance, mostly centre right groups and a left leaning one, but the party has visibly distanced itself from its once crucial ally, the far right Jamaat-e-Islami.
Jamaat was a key-partner in the BNP-led four-party alliance government that ran the country from 2001-2006.
Earlier in the 2018 national election, BNP included Jamaat-e-Islami as part of its electoral alliance but since the ouster of the Awami League regime last year, there has been a visible rift between them.
Analysts said BNP's decision to distance itself from Jamaat was both political and strategic as it would give BNP a more liberal and contemporary image to civil society, the youth, and centrist political forces.
A violent street protest by Students Against Discrimination (SAD) ousted the Awami League government on August 5, 2024. Three days after Hasina fled the country, Yunus had taken over as the chief adviser on August 8. A large offshoot of the SAD formed the National Citizen Party (NCP) in February this year.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Deccan Herald
an hour ago
- Deccan Herald
One year on, hope turns to frustration in Bangladesh
Just over a year ago, after Sheikh Hasina, the autocratic leader of Bangladesh, had unleashed a brutal crackdown on protesting students, Abu Sayed stood defiantly in front of armed police officers in the city of Rangpur, his arms outstretched. Moments later he was hit by bullets and later died from his injuries, his family said. He was one of almost 1,400 to die in a mass uprising that eventually toppled Hasina's 15-year rule. Hasina later fled to India. She left behind a country on the brink of anarchy, but one also suffused with students wanted to rebuild Bangladesh as a more equitable and less corrupt democracy. They helped install Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist, atop an interim government tasked with leading the nation out of chaos into stability. But many Bangladeshis are frustrated with the slow pace of change, wondering whether protesters like Sayed sacrificed their lives in Yunus, Bangladesh has struggled to dislodge systemic problems like corruption, inflation, a paucity of jobs and an entrenched bureaucracy, which partly fed people's anger against have clamoured for democratic reforms to kick in faster. They also want swifter punishment for Hasina and the perpetrators of last year's attacks on protesters..'We thought the country would become morally better, inequality would end, there would be fair elections, the killers would be punished, and that punishment would make criminals afraid. But nothing like that has happened,' said Romjan Ali, Sayed's older brother. He added that without Yunus, though, it would probably be worse..A new burden of reforming one of the world's poorest and most corrupt countries has fallen largely on Yunus's shoulders, in a nation still divided and with nearly five dozen political first task was to restore law and order. Looting, rioting and attacks on minorities had destabilised the country after the revolution. Although Bangladesh is more stable now, the government has been accused by human rights groups of not doing enough to control bouts of violence against Hindu minorities and supporters of Hasina, while Islamic hard-liners have tried to get a foothold. His next goal was to get an extensive reform agenda going. Yunus appointed 11 commissions to propose reforms, including changes to the electoral system, the judiciary and the police. The overarching goal was to make the country's democratic institutions, which Hasina had bent to her will, more resilient against authoritarian rule. But few of those changes have happened, and hope has turned to defeatism..'Everything seems messy now,' said Abdullah Shaleheen Oyon, a student at the University of Dhaka. He was shot in the leg during the protests, which were set off by anger over a quota system for government jobs. 'Our dreams remain unfulfilled,' he added, saying that the urgency with which student leaders had launched their plans is petering week, Yunus announced that Bangladesh would hold elections under a reformed voting system in February, though many details need to be resolved before then amid disagreements between political parties. In an address for the anniversary of the overthrow of Hasina, Yunus said that his government had inherited a 'completely broken' country but that it was recovering. He said he was preparing to hand over the running of the country to an elected than half of his tenure has been dominated by discussions with political parties about the timing of those Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which became the country's largest political party after Hasina's Awami League was decimated, has insisted that the interim government should implement only reforms necessary to hold free and fair elections, leaving further changes to an elected other political parties, including Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat e Islami, have backed Yunus on the need for more extensive reform first. Some 30 political parties have been engaged on constitutional and governance issues for two months, said Ali Riaz, a political scientist and vice-chair of the National Unity Council, a government body tasked with overseeing the commissions' reform said they had done so without 'any acrimonious exchange,' painting a sanguine picture of progress. The various parties have agreed on issues like the need for an independent judiciary and term limits on the prime ministerial role, he its leaders through a fully democratic process would be a significant step for Bangladesh, a country of 171 million people. Since Bangladesh became an independent nation in 1971, splitting from Pakistan where the ethnic Bengalis had faced violent suppression, its course has largely been shaped by two political dynasties. Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one of the country's founders, started the Awami League. Ziaur Rahman, who was a military officer central to the independence war and became president, founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is now led by his son from two dominant parties regularly passed the baton to each other before Hasina gripped power. The BNP refused to contest the last election in January 2024, calling it rigged. At the coming election in February, it is the Awami League that may be absent from the ballot because the party's activities are banned in the political parties have been trying to widen their reach by targeting populations in rural and semi-urban areas. Nahid Islam, a leader of the student uprising, started the National Citizen Party in February after he left Yunus's government. To drum up support, he embarked on a 'nation-building' walk-athon in voters are crucial for all parties: The median age in Bangladesh is around 26, and many of the country's young people grew up knowing only Hasina's rule..'We, as a generation, have no good understanding of democracy because we haven't seen it,' said Saeed Khan Shagor, a filmmaker who joined the protests last year. 'So the state should make sure that citizens will live in peace, without any kind of fear.'.Thahitun Mariam, a Bangladeshi American who has been working with community groups in Dhaka, said she worried another common problem would not be addressed: the marginalisation of women in the deeply traditional society. Without significant social change, she said, elections and reforms would simply recreate a 'male-centric, male-dominated political reality.'.Many female students who were highly visible in the 2024 protests, have retreated from their public roles. But Mariam said she was still hopeful that Bangladesh's new democracy would prove to be more Bangladeshis took a moment on August 5 to note the anniversary of the downfall of the Hasina government, tens of thousands of people gathered in Dhaka, the capital, braving an evening drizzle to listen to Yunus's audience cheered as Yunus said that those who died in last year's mass uprising would be deemed national heroes, and Bangladesh would provide 'legal protection to the families of the martyrs, the wounded fighters and the student protesters.' But the celebrations masked growing acrimony from students about an as-yet unfulfilled promise of the revolution: bringing the perpetrators of the July 2024 killings to most Bangladeshis, there are more everyday concerns, as the economy has sputtered. Economic growth slowed to 4.2% last year, down from 5.8% in 2023, according to the World Bank.
Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Indian Express
India backs two-state solution, calls for Gaza truce & hostage release amid Israel offensives
India called for 'ceasefire', 'unconditional release of all hostages', 'continued supply of humanitarian aid', and a 'two-state solution', as Israel continued to carry out military offensives in Gaza. 'Our position has been clear and consistent. There has been no change. We continue to call for a ceasefire, unconditional release of all hostages, continued supply of humanitarian aid, and we stand for a two state solution,' the Ministry of External Affairs' official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday. This statement came at a time when Mossad spy chief David Barnea is visiting Qatar to revive Gaza peace talks. The visit follows a reported expression of eagerness by Hamas for a swift return to Gaza ceasefire negotiations during a meeting with Egypt's intelligence chief in Cairo. Meanwhile, Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Thursday plans to commence work on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the West Bank and isolate it from East Jerusalem, a move his office stated would 'bury' the idea of a Palestinian state. More than 100 non-profit groups warned Thursday that Israel's rules for aid groups working in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank will block much-needed relief and replace independent organisations with those that serve Israel's political and military agenda — charges that Israel denied. The Israel-Hamas war casualties add to the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been killed since the war started when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 251 people. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed more 61,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals but 50 remain inside Gaza. Israel believes around 20 of them to be alive.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
3 hours ago
- First Post
Trump mobilises full National Guard contingent to Washington; 800 troops now in capital
The deployment will continue until Trump determines that order has been restored. Unlike in most states, Washington's National Guard operates under direct presidential authority, removing the need for formal federalisation National Guard troops reinforce the security zone on Capitol Hill in Washington. File image/AP President Donald Trump has ordered the complete mobilisation of 800 National Guard troops to Washington, DC, as part of what he describes as a drive to restore 'law and order' in the US capital. The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday (August 14) that all Army and Air National Guardsmen assigned to Joint Task Force DC are now operational. Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the troops will support the Metropolitan Police Department and federal agencies by securing monuments, patrolling communities, protecting federal facilities and managing traffic control points. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The deployment will continue until Trump determines that order has been restored. Unlike in most states, Washington's National Guard operates under direct presidential authority, removing the need for formal federalisation. Political context and crime statistics Trump's decision also includes a federal takeover of Washington's police department, part of a broader Republican narrative that the Democratic-led city is plagued by crime and mismanagement. Official data from Washington police, however, shows violent crime has declined in 2024 compared with last year, following a spike in the immediate post-pandemic period. The deployment follows Trump's recent use of National Guard and Marine units in Los Angeles to quell unrest triggered by immigration enforcement raids, marking the first time since 1965 that a president has sent the Guard into a state over a governor's objections.
