Elections in Bangladesh to be held in April 2026, announces Yunus amid pressure to restore democracy

Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus on Friday declared that national elections will be held in the first half of April 2026. The announcement comes after a year of political upheaval that saw the ouster of the previous government through a mass uprising.

"I am announcing to the citizens of the country that the election will be held on any day in the first half of April 2026," Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who leads the caretaker government, said in a speech to the nation.

Muhammad Yunus stated that the Election Commission would soon release a comprehensive roadmap for the upcoming polls. He emphasized that the interim government had taken charge with three primary objectives: reform, justice, and holding elections.

Yunus said extensive consultations had been held with all political parties to ensure that the forthcoming vote would be the “most free, fair, competitive, and acceptable in the country’s history.” He underscored that the ultimate aim was to establish a process that would honor the memory of those who lost their lives in the uprising and be remembered by the nation for its transparency and integrity.

Yunus, who was seen as a stabilising figure during turmoil in the country last year, has lately found himself at the centre of a growing storm amid intensifying demands to hold national elections by December.

Major opposition parties, including former PM Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had been demanding a definitive election timeline, and that they be held latest by December this year.

Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, in a speech to officers in May, also said that elections should be held by December, according to both Bangladeshi media and military sources.

Days after that speech, the government warned that political power struggles risked jeopardising gains that have been made.

"Those who organise such elections are later viewed as culprits, and those who assume office through them become targets of public hatred," Yunus said on Friday.

"One of the biggest responsibilities of this government is to ensure a transparent... and widely participatory election so that the country does not fall into a new phase of crisis," he added.

"That is why institutional reform is of utmost importance."