Bangladesh is finally heading toward a decisive political moment as the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday announced the schedule for the 13th parliamentary election—paired, for the first time, with a national referendum.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin, in a nationally televised address, declared that both the parliamentary election and the referendum on the July National Charter will be held simultaneously on February 12, 2026, from 7:30am to 4:30pm.
The dual-vote arrangement is unprecedented in the country’s political history and follows nearly a year and a half of upheaval marked by unrest, institutional breakdown, and sweeping political shifts.
The lead-up to this election has been unlike any other since Bangladesh’s return to parliamentary democracy.
In May 2025, the ousted Awami League’s political activities were formally declared banned following months of confrontation. The ban came in the aftermath of the July 2024 mass uprising, when sustained protests, defections within state institutions, and governance failures culminated in the sudden departure of Sheikh Hasina, the country’s longest-serving prime minister.
Amid the unrest, Sheikh Hasina fled to India, leaving a vacuum in national politics and triggering a cascade of realignments within the administration. An interim government, led by Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus, took charge and introduced the July National Charter, a proposed framework aimed at reforming electoral systems, oversight bodies, and political structures.
The upcoming referendum will determine whether this charter becomes the guiding political and constitutional roadmap for Bangladesh’s next era of governance.
With the announcement of the election schedule, the country enters its first fully structured electoral phase since the monsoon revolution of 2024.
The youth leaders who spearheaded the 2024 uprising have already formed a political party—the NCP—which will contest the upcoming polls alongside major political players such as the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami.
However, the participation of the Awami League—one of the country’s oldest political organisations—and its allied parties remains uncertain due to the current political situation, which has been profoundly reshaped since the July uprising. Most senior Awami League leaders have been absconding since the regime change on August 5, 2024.
The EC announced the following timeline:
Parliamentary ballots will be printed in black and white, while referendum ballots will be pink to avoid confusion on election day.
For the first time in national election history, more than 300,000 expatriate Bangladeshis have registered to vote via postal ballots.
During his address, the CEC warned that “sharing false or misleading information is also a punishable offense,” a caution issued amid growing concerns over disinformation, foreign influence allegations, and partisan digital propaganda that have inundated social media platforms in recent months.
A day before the announcement, the full Election Commission met President Mohammed Shahabuddin at Bangabhaban to brief him on the preparations for the dual vote.
According to EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed, the President expressed satisfaction with:
Adding further complexity to the preparations, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday ordered the restoration of previous constituency boundaries in parts of Bagerhat and Gazipur.
The Court ruled that segments of a September 2025 redistricting gazette were “illegal and beyond jurisdiction.”
As a result, the EC must reinstate:
The corrected boundaries must be gazetted before the EC finalizes its logistical arrangements for the polls.
Bangladesh has historically varied the interval between announcing the schedule and holding the election. Previous gaps include:
This year’s 62-day interval marks one of the longest in recent electoral history. Analysts say the extended timeline reflects the EC’s efforts to navigate legal disputes, manage new administrative challenges, and ensure heightened security ahead of the dual vote.
The election schedule ends an extended period of speculation that has dominated national discourse since mid-2024. The announcement comes in the wake of:
With the February 12 dual polls now set, Bangladesh enters a defining transition that may shape its political structure for years.
More than just electing a parliament, this election will test public approval of a proposed new constitutional order and mark the first major political exercise in a post–Awami League landscape.
The vote is poised to be a turning point—a moment for the nation to move beyond turbulence and decide the future architecture of its governance.
