Heres what to know about the polls on February 12

Voters in Bangladesh will go to the polls on Thursday in the country’s first parliamentary elections since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, following a brutal crackdown on student-led protests in 2024 that left nearly 1,400 people dead. Election campaigning ended Tuesday morning, paving the way for a high-stakes vote that will shape the country’s political landscape.

Voting process and schedule

Polling centers across the country will open at 7.30am (01.30 GMT) on 12 February and close at 4.30pm (10.30 GMT). According to the Election Commission of Bangladesh (ECB), citizens will cast their votes at 42,761 centers in 64 districts for 300 parliamentary constituencies.

As of October 31, 2025, there are 127,711,793 registered voters aged 18 and above in Bangladesh. This election introduces postal voting for the first time, allowing approximately 15 million overseas workers whose remittances are vital to the economy to participate.

The country governs the Jatiyo Shangsad, or House of the Nation, a unicameral legislature with 350 seats. 300 of these are selected with the first pass system, and 50 are reserved for women and distributed proportionally to the parties after the results are announced. In this system, a party that wins 151 seats can form a government without a coalition, and the second party becomes the official opposition.

High risks amid political turmoil

This is the first national election since January 2024, when Hasina returned to power for a fifth term amid widespread opposition boycotts. His administration has come under criticism from international observers for restricting political freedoms.

In July 2024, mass student protests broke out against the government’s job quota system, which favors the descendants of Bangladesh’s 1971 freedom fighters. Hasina responded with a violent crackdown that resulted in nearly 1,400 deaths and more than 20,000 injuries, according to the country’s International Criminal Tribunal (ICT).

Following these events, Hasina fled to India and remained in exile. Nobel laureate Muhammad Younis was appointed as interim leader in August 2024, while Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia by the ICT in Dhaka for crimes against humanity. Later, the Awami League party was banned from all political activities.

Main parties and candidates

There are two main coalitions in the election:

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP): Center-right coalition consisting of ten parties led by Tariq Rahman, son of late former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. Rahman returned from 17-year exile in London in December 2025. Founded by Ziaur Rahman in 1978, the BNP is rooted in Bangladeshi nationalist principles and has historically oscillated between government and opposition with Hasina’s Awami League.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JIB): JIB, which leads an alliance of 11 parties including the National Citizen Party (NCP), is chaired by 67-year-old Shafikur Rahman. Founded in 1941, the party opposed Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 and was banned after liberation. His registration was restored by the Supreme Court in June 2025, allowing him to participate in elections independently. The alliance also includes the NCP, led by 27-year-old Nahid Islam, the student leader of the 2024 protests. It is noteworthy that JIB chose its first Hindu candidate, Krishna Nandi, from Khulna.

Other parties running independently include Islami Andolan Bangladesh and Jatiya Party, a former ally of Hasina’s Awami League.

Opinion polls and the importance of the election

A December 2025 poll by the US-based International Republican Institute showed BNP support at 33 percent, with JIB close behind at 29 percent.

Results are expected to be announced the next morning, but counting could take longer due to both voting for parliamentary seats and a simultaneous referendum on the July National Charter 2025. Following the protests, constitutional changes and new laws are proposed in the referendum prepared by the interim government.

This election has extraordinary meaning. Since a significant portion of the electorate is young voters, many of them will be voting for the first time. The Awami League’s absence from the vote, the resurgence of Islamist parties and the potential for political realignment make this vote a defining moment in Bangladesh’s history.