Bangladesh's Interim Leader Yunus Announces Elections by Early 2026

General elections will be held late next year or early in 2026, according to Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader of Bangladesh's caretaker administration, which was put in place following a revolution in August.

The 84-year-old pioneer of microfinance is in charge of a transitional government that will attempt to address the "extremely tough" task of reestablishing democratic institutions in the roughly 170 million-person South Asian country.

As thousands of demonstrators overran the prime minister's palace in Dhaka, Hasina, 77, took a helicopter to neighboring India.

In an effort to undermine democratic constraints on her authority, her government was also charged with rigging elections and politicizing the courts and public service.

"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 November" Yunus said.

An updated voter list is one of the most important reforms that is required. This is a "complex" task following years of volatile democratic processes, needing both the removal of fake names from lists and the registration of first-time voters in a rapidly expanding youth population. He added.

Hasina hailed victory in January's general elections, which were boycotted by other parties and criticized as being neither free nor fair due to a crackdown that resulted in the detention of thousands of opposition party members.