Beyond Ballots: The Inclusivity Standoff

Immediate past ruling party Awami League is not being able to contest the 13th parliamentary elections which are scheduled to be held on 12 February 2026. Awami League (AL) was banned following the regime change in August 2024 while an interim government took oath on 8 August 2024. Even though Awami League is not publicly working in the political field, different political rivals are up for grabs to get hold of the ballots from Awami League's huge vote bank. Reportedly a silent race has meanwhile started within Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-E-Islami, Jatiya Party etcetera to win votes from Awami League supporters all over the country.

Most of the major political parties in Bangladesh believe obtaining votes from Awami League stalwarts will play a decisive role in the upcoming elections when it comes to victory or defeat in many constituencies. For this reason political sources have informed that BNP, Jamaat and Jatiya Party have worked out strategies to win ballots from Awami League supporters in the election which is just round the corner. The political parties which are now active on the ground are also approaching Awami League's allies to cut a good figure in the elections. In this way a new polarization is taking place on Bangladesh's political landscape as the elections are getting closer because the inevitable magnitude of voters belonging to Awami League will lay out a shadow on the election results which can be said for sure. The parties at present active and functional are giving assurances to withdraw cases on Awami League leaders and providing AL activists with security bulwark to win their ballots reportedly.

Awami League people have meanwhile started virtual campaign on social media to keep Awami League relevant and to make AL an impactful factor for the elections. AL voters will enormously impinge on outlining the country's electoral circumference, democratic transition and political future. Looking back on the elections held in 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2008, it can be prognosticated that Awami League acquired 30 percent to 48 percent votes during those elections though the elections held in 2014, 2018 and 2024 were highly controversial.

In the meantime a broad number of US Senators wrote to Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus to make the elections all-inclusive allowing all parties to contest the polls including the unseated ruling party which is currently banned. It's a reflection of the fact that powerful international stakeholders don't want any political party in Bangladesh to be excluded from polls.

When Awami League was ousted on 5 August 2024, an interim government led by Nobel Prize winner Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus took oath on 8 August last year. Law and order status collapsed all over Bangladesh overnight and mob outfits conducted violent attacks on politicians, women, girls, cultural organizers and shrines. Mobsters in some places set graves on fire and burned dead bodies pulling corpses out of tombs. Bangladesh's economic progress came to a grinding halt and foreign direct investment nosedived. Hundreds of factories including readymade garments (RMG) industries were laid off leading to millions of job losses. Anarchy and restless circumstances gripped government offices, private sector, academic institutions and even the Secretariat.

Right now unemployment, surge in crimes, financial instability and extreme liquidity crisis in banks are the most glaring troublesome issues. Prominent citizens have a number of times posed interrogative signs over the performance of the interim government who has been in power since August 2024. The central bank failed to empower scheduled banks to recover siphoned off loans which has plunged most banks into grim cash crunch. Attacks on newspaper offices and cultural institutions have exposed deadly fragilities in the law and order forces. No concrete actions have been yet taken against mob gangsters despite criticism and resentment from domestic civil society dignitaries and international assemblages. All these spectacles are going to fling corollaries on elections. State organs in charge of fighting corruption have failed to impress conscious and educated citizens. Rather allegations have blazed out that some unscrupulous and morally perverted officials have subjected honest business owners, journalists and common citizens to harassment and intimidation. Widespread extortion across Bangladesh has been reported by newspapers over and over again.

Political analysts have expressed the opinion that leaders of National Citizens Party or NCP and Jamaat-E-Islami are Awami League's principal antagonists. NCP is made of student coordinators who were on the frontline during the July Uprising that toppled Awami League. For this reason NCP and Jamaat are unlikely to pack hands with Awami League but at the same time it must be remembered that there is no end word in politics.