“Just like in America!” The newly minted minister smiled. Its new boss, Tariq Rahman, had just been sworn in as Bangladesh’s prime minister in an outdoor ceremony. This new gesture of transparency came five days after the February 12 elections, when the center-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party captured more than two-thirds of the 300 seats in parliament. Bangladesh has voted in its first competitive elections since 2008. It has done so mostly peacefully – despite earlier fears of mass violence. To future-proof this fragile democracy, nearly 70% of voters also voted “yes” in the constitutional referendum, which arms the country with sturdier checks and balances.
For fifteen years, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League has organized sham elections, imprisoned and killed its opponents, and filled state institutions with sycophants. Then came the student-led “Monsoon Revolution,” which toppled the regime in August 2024 and cost the lives of 1,400 people. For the past eighteen months, the interim government has been accountable to Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in his eighties.
But despite all the talk of new beginnings, voters put their faith in the old guard party. Old habits die hard since the BNP’s last period in power, in the early 2000s. For five consecutive years, Bangladesh has had the dubious honor of being ranked as the most corrupt country in the world by Transparency International, a non-profit organization. Abdul Rahman, the scion of a political family, was no stranger to corruption allegations, which he denies.
Mr Rahman must now prove that he heads a more honest party. He spent 17 years in self-imposed exile on the outskirts of London to think about it. Before the vote, the BNP headquarters was packed with people returning from Britain, and the prodigal son spoke eloquently on anti-corruption issues. But the real test begins now.
The first part is democratic renewal. For this to work, everyone must be involved in one way or another – from the disillusioned Gen Z protesters who won just six seats to the Islamists who are emerging for the first time as the main opposition. What about AL supporters? The average turnout rate of around 60% suggests that many took the interim government’s ban on their party as a call to stay home. The BNP insists, unconvincingly, that only the courts can decide when and under what circumstances the Arab League might return.
The referendum put in place much-needed democratic guardrails, from limiting prime ministerial terms to creating a new upper house, with powers to monitor the lower chamber. But the BNP is keenly aware that, as the party in power, these checks and balances would now constrain itself. No wonder she secretly sent her agents to campaign for rejection, and that she has already begun to find excuses to choose what she wants.
The second challenge is economic. Bangladesh is scheduled to graduate from the group of “least developed countries” next November. This means the loss of many commercial privileges and loans, at a time when the government is busy chasing the wealth being smuggled out of the country by those close to it, amounting to $16 billion annually, according to the interim government. New Finance Minister Amir Khusro Mahmood Chowdhury says his to-do list includes cutting red tape, raising the 7% tax-to-GDP ratio, working to improve the cost and ease of doing business and charming fund managers from Hong Kong to New York.
Finally, Bangladesh wants to reset relations with India, its powerful neighbour. Its diplomats have a new word: “dignity” must return to the relationship. “Until August 2024, Bangladesh was almost like a client of India,” complains one retired ambassador. Sheikh Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia, still resides in a bungalow in Delhi as an Indian guest.
The BNP strikes a more realistic tone than the sometimes prickly interim government. But on water sharing, border security and questionable trade deals reached under Sheikh Hasina, it wants to renegotiate the terms. In his first press conference after the vote, Rahman felt inspired by another American command: “Bangladesh first!” He announced to great applause.
