DHAKA: Bangladesh will hold elections in February 2026, interim leader Muhammad Yunus said Tuesday, the first polls since a mass uprising overthrew the government last year.
“On behalf of the interim government, I will write a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner requesting that the election be arranged before Ramadan in February 2026,” Yunus said in a broadcast on the one-year anniversary of the ousting of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus, 85, is leading the caretaker government as its chief adviser until elections, and has said he will step down after the vote.
“We will step into the final and most important phase after delivering this speech to you, and that is the transfer of power to an elected government,” he said.
Yunus had earlier said elections would be held in April, but key political parties have been demanding he hold them earlier, and before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people.
“I urge you all to pray for us so that we can hold a fair and smooth election, enabling all citizens to move forward successfully in building a ‘New Bangladesh’,” he added.
“On behalf of the government, we will extend all necessary support to ensure that the election is free, peaceful and celebratory in spirit.”
Bangladesh to hold elections in February 2026: Yunus
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Bangladesh to hold elections in February 2026: Yunus
- Yunus had earlier said elections would be held in April, but key political parties have been demanding he hold them earlier, and before Ramadan
Hundreds rally in Paris to support Ukraine after four years of war
- Demonstrators chanted: “We support Ukraine against Putin, who is killing it“
- “Frozen Russian assets must be confiscated, they belong to Ukraine“
PARIS: Around one thousand took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to show their “massive support” for Ukraine, just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Demonstrators marching through the French capital chanted: “We support Ukraine against Putin, who is killing it,” and “Frozen Russian assets must be confiscated, they belong to Ukraine.”
“In public opinion, there is massive support for Ukraine that has not wavered since the first day of the full-scale invasion” by the Russian army on February 24, 2022, European Parliament member Raphael Glucksmann, told AFP.
“On the other hand, in the French political class, sounds of giving up are starting to emerge. On both the far left and the far right, voices of capitulation are getting louder and louder,” he added.
In the crowd, Irina Kryvosheia, a Ukrainian who arrived in France several years ago, “thanked with all her heart the people present.”
She said they reminded “everyone that what has been happening for four years is not normal, it is not right.”
Kryvosheia said she remains in daily contact with her parents in Kyiv, who told her how they were deprived “for several days” of heating, electricity and running water following intense bombardments by the Russian army.
Francois Grunewald, head of “Comite d’Aide Medicale Ukraine,” had just returned from a one-month mission in the country, where the humanitarian organization has delivered around forty generators since the beginning of the year.
Russia’s full-scale invasion sent shockwaves around the world and triggered the bloodiest and most destructive conflict in Europe since World War II.
The war has seen tens of thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of military personnel killed on both sides. Millions of refugees have fled Ukraine, where vast areas have been devastated by fighting.
Russia occupies nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory and its heavy attacks on the country’s energy sites have sparked a major energy crisis.
