It's Yunus vs Khaleda Zia in Bangladesh over election by Dec 2025

A new kind of battle lines have been drawn between Bangladesh’s interim Chief Adviser, Muhammad Yunus and the country’s former Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson, Khaleda Zia . The dispute between the two prominent Bangladeshi figures is over the date the country can go to the polls.

While Yunus insisted that his interim government would like to usher in reforms and conduct the polls by June 2026, the BNP has been demanding that the elections be conducted by 2025. The political landscape of Bangladesh has been in disarray after violent protests toppled the government of Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Yunus was appointed as the interim chief adviser with the hopes that the interim government would call for quick elections. However, it will be a year in August since Yunus will still be in power, raising concerns about when the polls will be held in the country.

Khaleda Zia raises alarm

On Thursday, Zia called on her party leaders and activists to move forward to reestablish democracy in the country, slamming Yunus’s leadership. On the eve of BNP founder and late president Ziaur Rahman’s 44th death anniversary, Khaleda said, “He [Ziaur Rahman] embraced martyrdom in the fight to establish democracy and safeguard sovereignty. The uninterrupted journey of that very democracy continues to face obstacles at every step.”

“Let this be our pledge on the death anniversary of Zia: we will see democracy reestablished in Bangladesh very soon. To achieve this goal, I urge BNP leaders and activists at all levels, and the people of the country, to move forward in a disciplined manner,” she added.

This was her first public remarks after returning from London earlier this month. She has been receiving treatment in the UK and staying with her son, Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the party. The remarks from Zia came a day after tens of thousands of students and youths of the BNP held a rally in the capital, Dhaka, demanding for general election in December.

Zia’s son, Rahman, addressed the rally virtually, where he is currently living in exile. The political scion reiterated the party’s call for elections by December. “The polls must be held by December. It has to take place within December,” he said.

Yunus takes a dig

After threatening to resign, Yunus held a meeting with leaders of different political parties, including the BNP. However, days after the meeting, Yunus appeared to be taking a dig at Zia’s party. The Bangladeshi chief adviser maintained that not all parties, but one political party, want elections in December.

Yunus’s remarks came during the opening ceremony of the 30th Future of Asia Conference of Nikkei Forum in Japan. During his trip to Tokyo, 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.

“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.

Overall, the tussle between Zia’s BNP and Yunus over the Bangladesh poll is becoming more apparent as the day goes by.

With inputs from agencies.