The official campaign for next month’s general election in Bangladesh began on Thursday. The elections are being held for the first time since the 2024 popular uprising that ended Sheikh Hasina’s long authoritarian rule. Thousands of supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) main candidate and popular leader Tariq Rahman took to the streets of the northern city of Sylhet to kick off the campaign. Holding party flags, the participants chanted slogans in favor of Tariq Rahman. The rally workers carried pictures and banners of Tariq Rahman. Tariq Rahman returned home in December after 17 years of exile and is considered a strong candidate for the post of prime minister. Rally participants chanted: “Do we have a leader? Yes, we have a leader.” The country’s largest religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami, will also launch its election campaign in the capital Dhaka later in the day.
The South Asian nation of 170 million people will hold general elections on February 12 to elect 350 members of parliament. Experts say the elections could pave the way for a new leadership after the political crisis that erupted after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government and could have a significant impact on domestic politics as well as regional relations. The election is taking place amid a volatile security situation, with a student leader killed in anti-government protests last month. There are also concerns about the spread of misinformation on social media.
Tariq Rahman, 60, better known in Bangladesh as Tariq Zia, took over the leadership of the BNP after the death of his mother and former prime minister Khaleda Zia. Khaleda Zia died in December at the age of 80. “She will carry forward the political legacy of her parents,” Haroon Rashid, 40, an ardent BNP supporter, told AFP, referring to Khaleda Zia and her husband, former President Zia-ur-Rehman, who were assassinated in 1981. In Bangladesh, one of the world’s largest Muslim-majority countries, political parties traditionally start their election campaigns in Sylhet, home to the centuries-old shrine of Shah Jalal. On Wednesday night, supporters lined the streets and chanted slogans as their election bus passed by at the shrine of Tariq Rahman. The Jamaat-e-Islami, on the other hand, will start its campaign in the capital Dhaka from the constituency of its leader Shafiqur-ur-Rehman. The party, which is ideologically close to the Muslim Brotherhood, is trying to return to practical politics after years of restrictions and crackdowns. Several key religious leaders were released from prison after Sheikh Hasina fled to India, while religious parties appear more active than ever. The National Citizens Party (NCP), founded by student leaders and which led the anti-government movement and has allied with Jamaat-e-Islami, will also hold its own election rally in Dhaka. “I have not decided to vote yet,” said 26-year-old engineer Raqeebul Hassan Shawon, standing on the sidelines watching the BNP rally. “We have heard promises before, but they have never been fulfilled.”
