Bangladesh announces elections in 2026, Yunus vows democratic reform

Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, has announced plans for a national election in 2026, a year on from the mass uprising that toppled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.

Yunus said he will be writing a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, requesting that the Election Commission arrange for the national election to be held in February 2026, before the holy month of Ramadan.

Nobel peace laureate Yunus was joined on stage by representatives of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party and the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) as he laid out a roadmap for democratic reform with the “July Declaration” at its core.

For context - the declaration is a 28-point document that seeks to give constitutional recognition to the 2024 student-led uprising.

Additionally, Yunus added that the trials of those responsible for the killings during the uprising were progressing swiftly.

The announcement from Yunus saw Bangladeshis revel in rallies, concerts, and prayer sessions, celebrating the country’s so-called “second liberation” after its independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Also watch: Bengali or Bangladeshi? A storm brews ahead of the 2026 Bengal elections

However, there was more drama to come. Sheikh Hasina, who fled to neighbouring India on August 5 last year, defiantly argued that she hasn’t actually stepped aside.

The ousted leader described the events of 2024 as a “coup” in an open letter to Bangladesh's citizens. Hasina declared that she never resigned from her duties as the prime minister, even as she is being tried in absentia on charges of crimes against humanity. She reiterated her belief in Bangladesh, its people and that the best days are yet to come.