Bangladesh’s Yunus resigns

Announces end of interim govt

DHAKA:

Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus stepped down on Monday in a farewell broadcast to the nation before handing over to an elected government.

“Today, the interim government is stepping down,” the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said.

“But let the practice of democracy, freedom of speech, and fundamental rights that has begun not be halted.”

Yunus returned from self-imposed exile in August 2024, days after the iron-fisted government of Sheikh Hasina was overthrown by a student-led uprising and she fled by helicopter to India.

“That was the day of great liberation,” he said. “What a day of joy it was! Bangladeshis across the world shed tears of happiness. The youth of our country freed it from the grip of a demon.”

“The people, voters, political parties, and stakeholder institutions linked to the election have set a commendable example,” Yunus said.

“This election has set a benchmark for future elections.”

Rahman, 60, chief of the BNP and scion of one of the country’s most powerful political dynasties, will lead the South Asian nation of 170 million.

Bangladeshi voters endorsed sweeping democratic reforms in a national referendum, a key pillar of Yunus’s post-uprising transition agenda, on the same day as the elections.

“We did not start from zero -- we started from a deficit,” he said. “Sweeping away the ruins, we rebuilt institutions and set the course for reforms.”

The referendum noted that approval would make the charter “binding on the parties that win” the election, obliging them to endorse it.