How Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh Army, BNP, students' NCP and Jamaat differ on election timeline

Ever since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5, 2024, the talks of holding an election has been doing the rounds in the political and military circles in Bangladesh. However, the various stakeholders in the country have been unable to come to an agreement on the timeline for the elections.

Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus said on Thursday in Tokyo that the current leadership will try to hold elections as early as December 2025 or by June 2026. He said the timeframe is contingent on the progress of electoral and governance reforms that his government is trying to implement.

"People are insisting to tell them when the elections would be because the politicians are very impatient, to get to their seats of power. So I have been promising them for some time. It could be in December this year or at the latest June of 2026, so six months gap, depending on how fast we can do the reforms," Yunus said.

However, Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman has insisted on holding the elections in December. Though Yunus expressed his desire to step down following the army chief's comments, various political parties backed the interim advisor, saying they have confidence in him.

The Bangladesh National Party, which is the largest political party in the country, has been demanding elections ever since the Hasina government was brought down. Though they had earlier agreed to hold the elections by December this year, BNP said it will be difficult for the party to cooperate with the government, if a specific roadmap is not announced immediately. BNP chief Tarique Rahman warned the interim government against postponing the elections.

BNP has been holding demonstrations to push the government to appoint party leader Ishraq Hossain as the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation.

The NCP also known as the Jatiya Nagorik Party maintains that the BNP is trying to be another Awami League, the banned political party of Sheikh Hasina. NCP leaders want to hold local body elections before the national polls. They also insist that basic reforms should be implemented before the national elections. Some of the advisers in the interim government support NCP's demands. However, BNP is against holding local body polls before the general elections.

The interim government in August lifted the ban on Bangladesh's largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami. It chief Shafiqur Rahman has come up with two timelines for the national elections. If the reforms are completed, hold elections by mid-February 2026 or immediately after Ramadan, if the reforms are delayed.

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