Bangladesh to hold elections in late 2025 or early 2026

Bangladesh's Yunus plans elections by late 2025 or early 2026, prioritizing reforms after Hasina's ouster.

DHAKA:

Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who heads the caretaker government installed after an August revolution, said Monday that general elections would be held late next year or in early 2026.

Pressure has been growing on Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus -- appointed the country's "chief adviser" after the student-led uprising that toppled ex-premier Sheikh Hasina -- to set a date.

The 84-year-old microfinance pioneer is leading a temporary administration to tackle what he has called the "extremely tough" challenge of restoring democratic institutions in the South Asian nation of about 170 million people.

"Election dates could be fixed by the end of 2025 or the first half of 2026," he said in a broadcast on state television.

Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to neighbouring India on August 5 as thousands of protesters stormed the prime minister's palace in Dhaka.

Hundreds of people were killed in the weeks prior to Hasina's ouster, most by police gunfire.

Scores more died in the hours after her toppling, largely in reprisal killings against prominent supporters of her Awami League party.

Her government was also accused of politicising courts and the civil service, as well as staging lopsided elections, to dismantle democratic checks on its power.

Hasina's rule saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.

Yunus has launched commissions to oversee a raft of reforms he says are needed, and setting an election date depends on what political parties agree.

"Throughout, I have emphasised that reforms should take place first before the arrangements for an election," he said.

"If the political parties agree to hold the election on an earlier date with minimum reforms, such as having a flawless voter list, the election could be held... by the end of 2025," he added.