Bangladesh’s new PM vows to work for democracy

Bangladesh’s new leader said after his party’s election victory that he would work to build a more democratic country by overcoming challenges related to weak institutions.

Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party won a majority in the 350-member Parliament elections held on Thursday. An 11-member alliance led by the Jamaat-e-Islami party, the country’s largest Islamist party, is preparing to form the opposition.

This was the first election since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted by a mass uprising in 2024. The interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Younis, oversaw elections that were largely peaceful. The vote marked a significant political shift in the South Asian country of more than 170 million people.

The new government is expected to be sworn in within a few days.

At his first press conference in the capital Dhaka on Saturday, Rahman said his priorities would be improving law and order and handling a fragile economy.

“We are about to begin our journey in a situation marked by a fragile economy left behind by the authoritarian regime, weakened constitutional and legal institutions and a deteriorating law and order situation,” he told reporters.

Rahman, the son of former Prime Minister Halide Ziya, who died in December, also called for unity and promised not to harm the country.

“We must remain united and support the will of the people to ensure that no evil force can re-establish autocracy in the country and ensure that the nation does not turn into a subservient state,” he said.

The BNP is one of the country’s long-standing political forces, along with Hasina’s now-banned Awami League party. Hasina has been accused of becoming increasingly authoritarian during her 15-year rule.

In recent years, the BNP has refused to participate in elections under Hasina. He has been in exile in India since his ouster and was convicted of crimes against humanity during weeks of unrest that left hundreds dead.