Election in Bangladesh

Peace Prize Winner: Day of Joy, End of Our Nightmare

Peace Prize Winner and leader of Bangladesh's transitional government since 2024, Muhammad Yunus, says that the people now have the opportunity to build a new country. He describes Thursday as "Bangladesh's new birthday," writes the Dhaka Tribune.

He made the comment after voting in Dhaka.

- This is a festival, a day of joy, a day of liberation, the end of our nightmare. I congratulate you all, says Yunus.

It is the first parliamentary election in the country since Sheik Hasina was forced out as leader after 15 years in power.

Celebration in Bangladesh as elections are held without Hasina

The queues were long when polling stations in Bangladesh opened this morning, writes the Dhaka Tribune. Many want to make their voices heard in the parliamentary elections since a student-led revolt put an end to Sheikh Hasina's fifteen-year rule in 2024.

Many voters describe a festive atmosphere at the polling stations. 39-year-old Mohammed Jobair Hossain voted for the first time since 2008, he tells Reuters.

- Our votes will be counted and have meaning.

More than 300,000 soldiers and police have been deployed in the country on election day and UN experts have warned of violence and disinformation, writes AFP. But during the first six hours everything seems to have passed relatively calmly.

Many of the 175 million inhabitants are calling for stability and growth. Sheikh Hasina's party, the Awami League, is not allowed to participate. Instead, the election is between two former allied parties that now lead coalitions - the nationalist BNP party and the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party. According to polls, the BNP has the upper hand.

Sheikh Hasina's Case — The Case

• After 15 years as Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheik Hasina was forced out as a result of student-led protests in the summer of 2024.
• Around 1,400 people were killed when the government violently suppressed the protests. The EU and other international actors have criticized the authorities' violence.
• Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee to India in August after thousands of protesters stormed her residence.
• In November 2025, Hasina was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity, a sentence she herself dismisses as political.
• A transitional government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was formed pending new elections.