Bangladesh votes in crucial elections after youth uprising

BarcelonaBangladesh votes this Thursday in its first national elections since the start of the political transition triggered by the August 2014 protests, which They left more than 1,400 dead and which ended with the removal of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. More than 127 million people are registered to vote, and more than 2,000 candidates are competing in the elections. This Thursday is a double election day: in addition to electing members of Parliament, Bangladeshis will also vote in a referendum on a package of constitutional reforms born from the student uprising, which aims to prevent a future prime minister from accumulating absolute power.

According to several media outlets with a presence in the country, there is widespread hope that these elections could lead to a democratic path in Bangladesh, following Hasina's authoritarian rule. who was sentenced to death in NovemberThe court found her guilty of ordering the brutal repression. in the wave of demonstrations against the governmentHasina was tried in absentia, as she has been in exile in India since August 2024.when he resigned and fled the country because of the riotsShe denied the charges and questioned the legitimacy of these elections, in which her party, the Awami League, is banned from participating. This opens up opportunities for other parties, after the Awami League has historically dominated Bangladeshi politics.

Since Hasina fled, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus assumed power with an interim government and a commitment to restoring institutional stability. "The mandate of the interim government was to create the conditions for holding democratic and fair elections, and it seems that this has been achieved," CIDOB researcher and Asia expert Inés Arco told ARA. "We must forget the history of the takeover of polling stations and the seizure of ballot boxes," declared Bangladesh's Chief Election Commissioner, AMM Nasir Uddin, after voting in Dhaka.

"The last real elections were in 2008; since then it's all been a rigged game," Shafqat Munir, of the BK_SLT_LNA, told the BBC. think tank The Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) asserts that nearly 60 million young voters "have never experienced a real vote": for them, elections evoke "electoral abuses and irregularities." "It's not just about voting," it says. "It's about a repressed nation reclaiming its voice."

The party most likely to win, according to polls, is the traditionalist and conservative Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which faces an alliance of eleven very diverse parties led by the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami. The National Citizen Party, created by the young people who led the protests, has joined this alliance.

The leader of the Nationalist Party who could become prime minister is Tarique Rahman, who recently returned to the country after 17 years in exile in London. This 60-year-old man is a member of the influential Zia family: the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated while serving as president in 1981. Rahman has pledged to rebuild democratic institutions, restore the rule of law, and revive the struggling economy.

The key youth vote

The National Civic Party's decision in December to join the alliance led by the Islamist party was controversial, particularly due to Jamaat-e-Islami's stance on the role of women. Arco explains that the youth-led party made a "pragmatic" decision, given that it is still a very new party with an undefined identity, limited resources, and no governance experience. "This led them to seek an alliance with a party that shares certain commonalities," he adds. Among these shared elements, he highlights that both parties value the need for justice for the victims of the uprising and the desire to restore social order and implement economic reforms. Geopolitically, both also hold strong anti-Indian positions. Furthermore, he states that Jamaat-e-Islami has successfully mobilized many young people on university campuses and notes that, in some areas, its formation has garnered more support than the youth-led party.

The youth vote will be key in these elections, as approximately 45% of the 128 million registered voters are between 18 and 33 years old, and nearly five million will be voting for the first time, according to electoral commission data.

Referendum on the political future

In addition to the composition of Parliament, citizens will also vote in a referendum on the so-called July National Charter, a set of 84 reforms proposed by the interim government, aimed at reducing the concentration of power in the executive branch and increasing the tools of political oversight. Among other things, it proposes the creation of a Parliament with an upper and lower house and limits the terms of prime ministers.