In Japan, Bangladesh's Yunus repeats June-2026 timeframe for elections amid anguish over delay

Bangladesh’s Interim Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus repeated his June 2026 timeframe in regard to conducting elections in the country, despite pressure from the political parties and army to hold polls in 2025. The remarks from the Bangladeshi Nobel laureate came during his trip to Japan.

Yunus assumed the role of the country’s chief adviser after violent protests toppled the government of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. While speaking to the former Prime Minister of Japan and Japan-Bangladesh Parliamentary Friendship League President, Taro Aso, Yunus said that the country would go to the polls between December 2025 and June next year.

What was interesting in his assertion was the fact that the Bangladeshi chief adviser threw the country’s politicians under the bus at an international level. While insisting that the elections can only take place after reforms are introduced in Dhaka, Yunus insisted that it is the politicians who are getting “impatient” with the timeframe.

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“The politicians are very impatient, they like to get to their seats of power. So I have been promising them for a long time that elections could be conducted in December 2025 or at the latest, June 2026, that’s six months,” Yunus told the Japanese delegation. “It will depend on how fast you can do the reforms. If the reform process is slow, then it will be late, so people are insisting, ‘Tell us when the elections will be’,” he added.

The timeframe to serve as a roadmap: The Yunus government

The assertion by Yunus was repeated by the Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary, Shafiqul Alam, during his briefing to the reporters. “Prof Yunus told Taro Aso that the election will be held between December and June. He has set a six-month time frame, and the election will be conducted within that period,” Alam was quoted as saying by The Dhaka Tribune.

Alam noted that during the briefing, Yunus told Taro Aso that he would soon announce specific dates for the national elections “as soon as the preparations are complete”. Taro Aso, also a former Japanese Foreign Minister and influential lawmaker, met Yunus at the bilateral meeting room of the Imperial Hotel.

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While speaking to the reporters, Alam said that the six-month window proposed by Yunus would serve as a roadmap. “Professor Yunus has provided a special cut-off time here. He has also stated unequivocally that he will not remain in power a single day beyond June," he averred.

Amid the criticism, the press secretary made it clear that Yunus’s interim government is not “remaining idle” and is working actively on multiple fronts, The Dhaka Tribune reported. “A fragile economy has been stabilised. We are now undertaking economic, administrative and legal reforms. Work centred on the Election Commission is progressing steadily,” he said.

On Wednesday, Yunus arrived in Tokyo to attend the 30th Nikkei Forum: Future of Asia and hold bilateral talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.