Kathmandu, Aug 10: The Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh, AMM Nasir Uddin, announced on Saturday that the country will hold general elections in the first week of February 2026.
He said ensuring a free and fair election remains a big challenge. Speaking at a program in Rangpur district in the northwest of the country, Uddin noted that public trust in the commission and the election process has declined, but he and his team are trying to restore it, according to Bangladesh’s official news agency (BSS).

Four days ago, on the first anniversary of the movement that ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Muhammad Yunus, the chief advisor of the interim government, had announced elections would be held in February next year. This will be Bangladesh’s 13th parliamentary election.

Since Yunus’s government banned the Awami League’s activities through an executive order, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has emerged as the largest party.

BNP’s self-declared acting chairman and Zia’s son Tarique Rahman said his party and its allied coalition will participate in the February election.

Earlier, BNP had formed a coalition of 12 parties, mostly center-right and one left-wing party. However, the party has now clearly distanced itself from the far-right Jamaat-e-Islami.

Jamaat was the main ally in the four-party coalition led by BNP, which governed the country from 2001 to 2006. But since the Awami League came to power last year, the distance between these two parties has become evident.

People's News Monitoring Service