"Over the previous three elections in Bangladesh, the Awami League party of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina faced accusations of eroding voting rights, prompting major opposition parties to boycott the polls. Now, after her ouster in last year's student-led uprising, her party finds itself excluded from the upcoming vote, slated for February 2026. Hasina, now living in self-imposed exile in India, has called for a boycott of next year's elections."
"The Awami League and its affiliated wings have been barred from political activity since May, following an executive order issued by the interim government. The interim administration has yet to say whether the Awami League will be allowed to contest the upcoming national elections. But a telling signal came in July, when the Election Commission suspended the party's iconic symbol, the Boat, raising doubts among supporters about its future on the ballot."
"A United Nations report estimates up to 1,400 deaths and thousands of injuries, mostly from security force gunfire, during the crackdown by Hasina's government against street protests between July 15 and August 5, 2024. The UN said it was Bangladesh's worst violence since its independence war in 1971, in which the Awami League played a central role in the fight against the Pakistani army."
Sheikh Hasina's Awami League has been effectively sidelined ahead of the February 2026 national election. The party and its affiliated wings were barred from political activity in May by an interim executive order, and the Election Commission suspended the party's Boat symbol in July, creating uncertainty about ballot access. Hasina lives in self-imposed exile in India and has urged supporters to boycott the vote, calling the ban unjust and self-defeating and warning of mass abstention. A UN report attributes up to 1,400 deaths and thousands of injuries to a July–August 2024 crackdown. Hasina and senior leaders face crimes-against-humanity trials with a November 13 verdict expected and the chief prosecutor seeking the death penalty. Hasina dismissed the proceedings, saying a guilty verdict is pre-ordained.
Read at www.dw.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]