# Next Bangladeshi general election

Snap general elections are expected to take place in Bangladesh following the resignation of the government of Sheikh Hasina in the face of the Student–People's uprising in August 2024. The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has established constitutional and election reform commissions for this purpose and announced that elections will be held by December 2025 to March 2026.

## Background

The 12th Sangsad was dissolved by President Mohammed Shahabuddin following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina. In June 2024, student protests erupted throughout the country, demanding the reform of quotas in government jobs. The protests were met with brutal crackdown by law-enforcement agencies and paramilitary forces, resulting in the deaths of many students. By August, the protests intensified into large-scale civil unrest against the government which eventually culminated in Hasina's resignation on 5 August.
Following negotiations between student leaders and the Armed Forces, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was appointed as the Chief Adviser to lead an interim government with a view of leading the country to new elections.
The Awami League won the January 2024 general elections following a record low voter turnout and a controversial election, spite of which they formed a government. The United States Department of State, in a statement, said that the election was not free and fair and the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office termed the election lacking the preconditions of democracy. According to The Economist, through this election, "Bangladesh effectively became a one-party state".
The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), demanded that the government hand over power to a neutral caretaker government before the January 2024 elections. This was rejected by Hasina, who vowed that "Bangladesh will never allow an unelected government again". Hasina's resistance to a caretaker government arose following the 2006–2008 crisis, during which a caretaker government assumed military-backed control of the country and arrested a number of political leaders, including Hasina and Khaleda Zia. Khaleda Zia was sentenced to prison for five years on February 8, 2018, for her involvement in the Zia Orphanage corruption case. The sentence was then modified to 10 years. Zia’s successor as chair of the party, her son Tarique Rahman, was also found guilty of criminal conspiracy and multiple counts of murder for a grenade attack in 2004 that injured Hasina and killed 24 people. He was sentenced to life in prison. As such, he was barred from running for office. Khaleda Zia was released by the President of Bangladesh following Hasina's resignation.

## Electoral system

The 350 members of the Jatiya Sangsad consist of 300 directly elected seats using first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) in single-member constituencies, and an additional 50 seats reserved for women. The reserved seats are elected proportionally by the elected members. Each parliament sits for a five-year term. The electoral system has been criticised as disproportional and a key driver of political deadlock in the country. Some of the leading minor parties, including Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Gono Odhikar Parishad, Amar Bangladesh Party etc., had been in staunch opposition to the system and in support of proportional representation (PR), where Bangladesh Nationalist Party remains a supporter of FPTP. The student leaders of the protest movement have also formed political groups like Jatiya Nagorik Party and are assumed to participate in the election.

## Parties and alliances
### Grand Alliance

| Party | Leader | Contesting Seats |
| Bangladesh Awami League | Sheikh Hasina | TBD |
| Workers Party of Bangladesh | Rashed Khan Menon | TBD |
| GP | Arosh Ali | TBD |
| JP(M) | Anwar Hossain Manju | TBD |
| BTF | Syed Najibul Bashar Maizbhandari | TBD |
| BSD-ML | Dilip Barua | TBD |

### Bangladesh Nationalist Party

| Party | Party | Symbol | Leader | Contesting Seats |
| | Bangladesh Nationalist Party | | Khaleda Zia | TBD |

### Democratic United Front

| Party | Leader | Contesting Seats |
| Communist Party of Bangladesh | Mohammad Shah Alam | TBD |
| Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal | Hasanul Haque Inu | TBD |
| Gano Forum | Kamal Hossain | TBD |
| Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal | Sharif Nurul Ambia | TBD |
| Socialist Party of Bangladesh | Bazlur Rashid Firoz | TBD |
| Oikya National Awami Party | Pankaj Bhattacharya | TBD |
| Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist) | Mubinul Haider Chowdhury | TBD |
| Revolutionary Communist League of Bangladesh | Mosharraf Hossain Nannu | TBD |
| Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti | Shantu Larma | TBD |
| Ganosanhati Andolan | Zonayed Saki | TBD |
| Rastro Songskar Andolon | Hasnat Quaiyum | TBD |
| Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Rab) | | TBD |
| Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh | | TBD |

### Others

| Party | Leader | Contesting Seats |
| Jatiya Party (Ershad) | Ghulam Muhammed Quader | TBD |
| Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami | Shafiqur Rahman | TBD |
| Islami Andolan Bangladesh | Syed Rezaul Karim | TBD |
| National Citizen Party | Nahid Islam | TBD |
| Bangladesh Jatiya Party | Andaleeve Rahman | TBD |
| Liberal Democratic Party | Oli Ahmed | TBD |
| Zaker Party | Ameer Faisal Mujaddedi | TBD |
| Trinomool BNP | Antara Selima Huda | TBD |
| Krishak Sramik Janata League | Abdul Kader Siddique | TBD |
| Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh | Mahi B. Chowdhury | TBD |
| Bangladesh Kalyan Party | Syed Muhammad Ibrahim | TBD |

## Opinion polls

Vote share projections :
| Polling agency | Fieldwork dates | Date published | Sample size | Margin of error | AL | JP(E) | BNP | IAB | Jamaat | NCP | Others | Independents | None | Decided, won't disclose | Undecided | "Can't say"/ No answer | Lead (pp) |
| Innovision Consulting | 19 Feb — 3 Mar 2025 | 8 Mar 2025 | 10,696 | ± 0.8% | 5.7% | 0.4% | 17% | 1.1% | 12.9% | 2.1% | 1.4% | — | — | 21.3% | 29.4% | 8.6% | 4.1 |
| Formation of National Citizen Party (NCP) by the student leaders on 28 February 2025 ||||||||||||||||||
| BRAC | 15 — 31 Oct 2024 | 12 Dec 2024 | 4,158 | ± 1.55% | 9% | 1% | 16% | — | 11% | 2% | 9% | — | 2% | — | 38% | 13% | 5 |
| Formation of Jatiya Nagorik Committee, a political platform led by the student leaders on 8 September 2024 ||||||||||||||||||
| Innovision Consulting | 29 Aug — 8 Sep 2024 | 10 Sep 2024 | 5,115 (field) | ± 1.4% | 5% | 1% | 21% | 3% | 14% | 10% | 1% | 3% | 2% | — | 34% | 4% | 7 |
| Innovision Consulting | 29 Aug — 8 Sep 2024 | 10 Sep 2024 | 3,581 (online) | ± 1.67% | 10% | 0% | 10% | 1% | 25% | 35% | 1% | 3% | 3% | — | 11% | 0% | 10 |
| Innovision Consulting | 29 Aug — 8 Sep 2024 | 10 Sep 2024 | Average | Average | 7.5% | 0.5% | 15.5% | 2% | 19.5% | 22.5% | 1% | 3% | 2.5% | — | 22.5% | 2% | 3 |
| 2018 general election | 2018 general election | 2018 general election | 2018 general election | 2018 general election | 74.96% | 5.22% | 11.73% | 1.47% | — | N/A | | 1.76% | N/A | | N/A | N/A | 63.23 |
| 2008 general election | 2008 general election | 2008 general election | 2008 general election | 2008 general election | 48.04% | 7.04% | 32.5% | 0.94% | 4.7% | N/A | | 2.94% | 0.55% | | N/A | N/A | 15.54 |

## Schedule

| Poll Event | Schedule |
| Declaration of the schedule | TBD |
| Application deadline for candidates | TBD |
| Scrutiny of nomination | TBD |
| Last Date for Withdrawal of nomination | TBD |
| Symbol allocation | TBD |
| Start of campaign period | TBD |
| End of campaign period | TBD |
| Date of Poll | TBD |
| Date of Counting of Votes | TBD |
| Date of reserved seats Poll | TBD |