Will Khaleda Zia meet same fate as Sheikh Hasina? BNP fears Muhammad Yunus will hijack elections

With ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's party Awamy League getting banned in Bangladesh, interim leader Muhammad Yunus has only one rival to fear. It's Bangladesh National Party's Chairperson and former PM Khaleda Zia.

While Khaleda Zia has been calling for elections this year, Yunus has been trying to push the polls to mid-2026. Echoing the sentiments of the student-led Nation Citizen's Party (NCP), also known as the Jatiya Nagorik Party, Yunus has been insisting that the polls should be held after implementing reforms. The NCP also wants local body polls carried out before the national elections.

Zia, who was in the UK for treatment due to ill health since January, came back in May. She has been liver cirrhosis, kidney disease, heart ailments, diabetes, and arthritis for a long time. Her son, Tarique Rahman, the second-in-commandant of the BNP, has been living in the UK over legal troubles in Bangladesh for more than a decade.

However, Zia has raised alarm about Yunus being in power without being elected for around a year, urging her party cadre to help restore democracy. Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman had also urged the interim government to hold elections by December. If elections are pushed to June 2026, Yunus will remain in power for around two years without being elected.

Speaking on the eve of late president Zia ur Rahman's 44th death anniversary, Khaleda on Thursday said the BNP founder became a martyr while fighting to establish democracy and protect sovereignty.

"The uninterrupted journey of that very democracy continues to face obstacles at every step," she said, "Let this be our pledge on the death anniversary of Zia: we will see democracy reestablished in Bangladesh very soon."

Yunus, however, clapped back at the BNP and Zia, saying only one party wants elections in December and that politicians are getting "impatient" with the timeframe.

Bangladesh's leading Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, whose ban was lifted recently, has been calling for elections by February 2026 or immediately after Ramadan, if the reforms are delayed.

Earlier, trying to calm down the BNP leadership and others, Yunus said, "I felt confident as we all sat together. If I fail to hold a fair election, I will feel guilty."

It remains to be seen how the various political parties stand as Yunus goes ahead with his pre-election reforms, including women's rights laws.

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