2 days ago
Bangladesh Is Finally Going For National Elections By April 2026
By Nitya Chakraborty
The interim Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Government Dr. Muhammad Yunus has finally announced the holding of national elections in the country in the first half of April next year defying the demand of the main opposition party BNP to hold it in December this year. The final dates will be notified by the Election Commission. The EC will also be notifying the norms as also the criteria for the eligibility of the candidates for contesting the polls
Chief Adviser Dr. Yunus is currently in London on a four day official visit to United Kingdom. He will be meeting the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as also other leading ministers of the Labour government. He is expected to have a meeting with Tarique Rahman, the working chairman of the BNP and the son of the BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia. Tarique is the main strategist of the Bangladesh's main opposition party. His discussions with Dr. Yunus have special importance in view of the impending elections.
As regards the stand of the opposition parties in Bangladesh, all the parties are preparing for the elections though the BNP still maintains that December is the best time since the months of February and March are not convenient in view of annual school examinations, Ramzan as also the possibility of sudden storms and incessant rains during those months. The Election Commission will take the final view on dates after looking at the representations.
For all parties, now one thing is certain that the national elections are taking place anytime between December and April and they would have to be fully ready for that. The EC will notify the lists of the parties eligible for taking part in the elections, but already, the trend is clear. Excepting the Awami League which has been barred by the law, all other parties including Jamaat El Islami are eligible to participate in the elections. There may be more than thirty political parties but the main parties presently are the frontrunner BNP, the newly set up the National Citizens Party (NCP) and Jamaat-El-Islami. Other smaller parties and loose fringe left combinations are there but they have not much influence in electoral terms in the present volatile Bangladesh.
To take the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) first. The BNP has been functioning in the parliamentary domain just few years after the founding of Bangladesh in 1971. The BNP's present chairperson Khaleda Zia was three times Prime Minister. She was out of the country for medical treatment. She came back last month and is now presiding over the strategy meetings though she has been asked by the doctors not to take strain of campaigning. So she is not campaigning much but guiding the local leadership in consultations with her son Tarique who is based in London. Tarique will be back to Dhaka as soon as the pending cases against him are disposed of in courts in Bangladesh.
BNP has governing experience for a long period. The party has contacts with the bureaucrats as also a major section of the Bangladesh army. BNP can be called a centre-right party in Bangladesh. The party is flexible and the top leadership understands the importance of having friendly relations with such a powerful neighbour like India. BNP took a vehement anti-India position during Sheikh Hasina's tenure as the BNP thought that India was making use of Hasina to serve its interests and Hasina was sacrificing national interests to Indian government so that all her excesses are ignored by New Delhi. BNP leaders now express the view that they will like to have normal relations with India if they come back to power after the national elections.
The second visible political party is the NCP. The NCP was founded in the last week of February this year. Only more than three months have passed. The party has still to set up all its units in districts at village levels. The party as a whole has no governing experience. Most of their top leaders were the vanguard of the anti-discrimination movement which toppled Sheikh Hasina from power on August 5 last year. The NCP is an unwieldy combination of diverse forces from the secularist to fundamentalists, from pro-Chinese to libertarians. They have some experienced trade union workers as also peasant leaders. But basically, the NCP is led by young radicals who are dreamers and talk of a new Golden Bangladesh to be built on the basis equity.
The NCP is totally anti-India. The leadership feels that Indian government was fully responsible for all excesses of Awami League and along with Sheikh Hasina, Indian government led by Narendra Modi is also guilty. In fact NCP was most vocal in mentioning Indian role in Hasina's tenure to the international delegations which studied the anti-Hasina students movement. The NCP has now speeded up formation of its core committees for election purposes. The NCP is very much with Dr. Yunus in most of the programmes. The NCP looks at BNP as its main rival. NCP is also suspicious of Army role.
As regards Jamaat El Islami, the party has lot of dedicated workers. The party has lot of funds now after the Yunus regime withdrew earlier ban on foreign donations to it. The Jamaat on its own remains an insignificant force in elections. Earlier, it aligned with BNP and got some recognition, but right now, BNP and Jamaat are at loggerheads. Jamaat is supporting Dr. Yunus just like NCP. A section of Jamaat wants an understanding with the NCP but that may not fructify as the top leadership of NCP is against any dealing with Jamaat.
What is the political ambition of Dr. Yunus? This is also important. Dr. Yunus is 85 years old now. Despite giving threat of submitting resignation twice during his tenure, the Nobel Laureate is enjoying his time, say the sources. He will not mind being nominated President after the elections. But that depends on which combination comes to power after elections and what type of dealings take place. NCP and Jamaat will like Dr. Yunus to remain in political limelight, but will BNP agree? Dr. Yunus had connections earlier with Biden administration as he was known as a good friend of Clintons. But after the coming of Trump in the White House, Dr, Yunus lost that weight. He is now trying to establish fresh contacts with Trump advisers taking advantage of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest embarrassing position vis a vis US administration over May 10 ceasefire.
How does India stand in this scenario? With Awami League not in the race for national elections, India has hardly any party among the contestants in which it can take interest. As regards Awami League, the leaders say that they will challenge the ban decision, but that may not make any impact as the law has been amended. AL leadership can draw global attention for holding fair elections with its participation with India's help, but the possibility of success is remote. Two international teams including members from the EU submitted reports accusing Sheikh Hasina regime of election frauds and excesses during July movement including unwarranted killings.
For the time being, Awami League leadership has very few options. Among the big nations, the U.S. is right now not interested in Bangladesh since it is too involved with other pressing issues. China is positioned against Awami League and it is presently doing very good business with the present Bangladesh regime. China has friends in both BNP and NCP. China's ambassador in Dhaka receives maximum visitors from the political parties now. China has its ambitions far more than the business in Bangladesh. The plan involves reactivating abandoned airports as also naval base in Chittagong. But China is not in a hurry. Beijing wants to win people's hearts through setting up a cluster of factories creating jobs and then working for its geo-political goals in Bangladesh which affect India.
How will Narendra Modi government plan to meet the challenge in Bangladesh? That is the big question. (IPA Service)
