Bangladesh’s road to 2026 Polls: From Liberation War to Hasina’s fall and a nation at ballot box | World News

Bangladesh goes to the polls on February 12 for its most important elections in decades; It was the country’s first national vote since mass protests led by students toppled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024 and sent her into exile. More than 127 million voters are eligible to vote in what officials are calling the largest democratic exercise of the year. For the first time, approximately 15 million Bangladeshi expatriates will also be able to vote by mail. This is a significant shift in a country where overseas remittances are vital to the economy. Despite the scale of the exercise, fears of unrest remain high.

The elections are being overseen by an interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Younis, after years of political pressure, disputed polls and a violent crackdown that resulted in Hasina’s dramatic fall from power.

A fragmented political landscape

Bangladeshi politics has long been dominated by two rival forces: the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Now this balance has been turned upside down.

The Awami League was banned after Hasina and top party leaders were accused of violently suppressing protests in 2024. Hasina was tried in absentia and sentenced to death for ordering the killing of protesters, but her refuge India refused to extradite her.

With the Awami League sidelined, the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami emerged as the main rivals, each leading multi-party alliances. Nearly 2,000 candidates are running for 350 seats in the unicameral Jatiya Sangsad, Bangladesh’s national parliament.

A history shaped by conflicts and coups

Bangladesh’s troubled electoral journey had started even before independence.

In Pakistan’s 1970 general elections, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League won an absolute majority, giving him the right to form the national government. The Pakistani army’s refusal to hand over power triggered mass protests and eventually the 1971 War of Liberation. According to the United Nations, an estimated three million people were killed and 200,000 women raped during the conflict.

After independence, Mujib became prime minister. His party passed the 1973 elections, winning 293 out of 300 seats, amid allegations of fraud and intimidation. By 1974, all opposition parties were banned and Bangladesh became a one-party state.

This experiment came to an abrupt end in August 1975, when Mujib and most of his family were assassinated in a military coup. More than a decade of instability followed, marked by counter-coups, martial law, and changing military rule.

The return and erosion of elections

Multi-party democracy was re-established under President Ziaur Rahman, who led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to victory in the 1979 elections. Following his assassination in 1981, army chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad seized power and remained in power until mass protests in 1990 forced him to resign.

The 1991 elections, held under a neutral interim government, are widely remembered as Bangladesh’s first truly “free and fair” vote. BNP’s Khaleda Zia became the country’s first female prime minister, starting a long-running rivalry with Sheikh Hasina.

There was a transition of power between the two leaders in the 1990s and early 2000s, but elections were often marred by boycotts, street violence and allegations of manipulation.

Hasina consolidates her power

After Hasina returned to office in 2009, she gradually removed measures aimed at ensuring fair elections. His government abolished the watchdog system, cracked down on opposition figures and oversaw elections in 2014 and 2018 that were widely criticized at home and abroad.

While opposition parties boycotted the 2014 elections, the 2018 elections gave Hasina’s alliance a supermajority amid allegations of intimidation, fraud and violence despite the introduction of electronic voting.

By the January 2024 elections, the BNP had withdrawn again, Jamaat-e-Islami remained banned and Hasina had secured a fifth term as president in what critics described as a return to single-party rule.

The protests that changed everything

The turning point came in July 2024, when students took to the streets after the Supreme Court reinstated the decades-old job quota system that supported the families of liberation war veterans. The protests quickly grew into a broader movement against authoritarian rule.

Security forces responded with lethal force. According to official figures, at least 1,400 people were killed in the crackdown. On August 5, Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India. Three days later, Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as interim leader.

A high risk vote

Bangladesh has had 11 elected governments since 1971, which have been repeatedly interrupted by military rule and political crises. Elections are held every five years, but few are uncontested.

As voters prepare to vote once again, the February 12 elections are being seen not just as a struggle for power but also as a test of whether Bangladesh can finally break free from the long cycle of contested powers, repression and unrest and regain a credible democratic path forward.