In Dhaka, the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus has brushed off former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s warning that Bangladesh should boycott the February 2026 elections. A new report says the Awami League’s fan base suggests the real picture is different.
The report reminds readers that even when the Awami League performed badly in 2001, winning only 62 of 300 seats, it still attracted more than 22 million votes—about a million fewer than the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) that took 193 seats. That shows the party still has a huge popular base.
Senior journalist and political analyst Masood Kamal wrote for Deutsche Welle that many Awami League supporters remain “ideologically and historically devoted” to the party, even as its leaders face accusations. He warned that banning a party by executive order reveals a society that is not properly democratic. “The irony is that this government was supposed to unite people,” Kamal said.
International rights groups—including CIVICUS, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Fortify Rights, and Human Rights Watch—sent a joint letter to Yunus. They asked the interim government to lift the ban on the Awami League, arguing that restricting it could hurt democracy and fairness for voters.
The letter also warned that banning parties could threaten a return to genuine multi‑party democracy. It called on the interim government not to use bans that would disenfranchise a large part of Bangladesh’s electorate.
The report notes that the risk of exclusion isn’t limited to the Awami League. Calls to ban Bangladesh’s Jatiya Party have grown louder since the end of Hasina’s government. The Jatiya Party was left out of the interim government’s one‑year reform talks, and the National Citizen Party (NCP) has made shutting it down a top demand.
“The exclusion of the Jatiya Party shows the administration isn’t protecting its rights,” said Jatiya Party Secretary General Shamim Haider Patwary in an interview with DW. “This will be a rigged vote. Treating the Jatiya Party as an ‘almost‑banned’ group is not a good sign for democracy.”
The report underlines a broader concern: a crackdown on political pluralism could undermine Bangladesh’s democratic progress as elections approach.
Source: ianslive
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