Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the leader of Bangladesh’s interim government, on Monday said the next general elections could be held at some point between the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026.
Yunus’ remarks came during his national address on the 53rd anniversary of the Bangladesh Liberation War.
“In view of the electoral processes and recommendations of the Electoral Reforms Commission, and if we add in the expected level of reform based on the national consensus, it (elections) could take at least another six months, roughly between the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026,” The Daily Starquoted Yunus as saying.
Yunus also highlighted that “extensive work” would have to be done to update the voter list, a critical step in the election process, and the list had not been updated “in 15 years.”
The task, he noted, would be “more challenging” this time as voters “did not participate” in the previous three elections.
“The Election Commission now holds the responsibility for forming the future government,” the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh added.
Bangladesh is under a caretaker administration since August, when the government led by Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation’s Founding Father, collapsed after weeks of student-led protests.
Also Read: Bangladesh’s ex-PM launches attack on interim govt, calls Yunus a ‘fascist’
Hasina, who was in power since 2009, fled to India and is living here.
The exit of the Awami League supremo was followed by attacks on Bangladesh’s minority Hindu community, resulting in tensions with India, a Hindu-majority nation and a neighbour which played a key role in the liberation of what was then a part of Pakistan (as “East Pakistan”).
Last week, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited Bangladesh to discuss bilateral ties, the first high-level official visit after the the interim government.
