Bangladeshis go to the polls on Thursday, with some 128 million people eligible to vote, in a key test of the country’s return to democracy after a popular coup toppled longtime leader Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.
Women line up to cast their votes at a polling station during Bangladesh’s parliamentary elections, in Dhaka, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP)Here are the key electoral issues in the country of 175 million, which has been ruled by an unelected interim administration since Hasina’s chaotic fall. Follow live updates here.
CorruptionA recent opinion poll by the Dhaka-based Communication Research Foundation and Bangladesh Elections and Public Opinion Studies found corruption to be a major concern of voters. Bangladesh has long ranked among the world’s worst performers in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Both the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its main rival Jamaat-e-Islami have made tackling corruption central to their campaigns, with Jamaat’s anti-corruption image helping its resurgence.
InflationInflation rose to 8.58% in January, according to official data, and more than two-thirds of respondents to the poll cited “prices” as their second biggest concern.
Economic developmentOnce one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, Bangladesh has struggled to regain momentum since the Covid-19 pandemic crippled its export-driven garment sector. The 2024 protests against then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which eventually saw her fall and flee into exile, further disrupted the sector and impacted overall growth.
Voters ranked economic development as their third highest concern.
employmentWith an estimated 40% of Bangladeshis under the age of 30, the next government faces intense pressure to create jobs for millions of young people after months of instability.
Ban Hasina’s Awami League party Hasina’s Awami League has been barred from the election and she has said her party’s absence will leave millions of supporters without a candidate and force many to boycott the election. Some Bangladeshis have indeed vowed to stay away from polling stations, but analysts do not expect mass boycotts and say former Awami League voters will shape the outcome of the election.
A recent survey of various voters found that almost half of former Awami League voters now prefer the BNP, the frontrunner in most opinion polls, followed by about 30% who favor the Jamaat.
