A year and a half after the fall of the Awami League government in a mass uprising, the people of the country are voting today, Thursday, aiming to establish an elected government.

At the same time, through a referendum, they will express their views by casting ''Yes'' or ''No'' votes on a proposal to bring several fundamental changes to the constitution.

Related individuals say that this election is not like the traditional national parliamentary election. If it turns out to be a free and acceptable election in the end, it could be the first step in democratic transition. If ''Yes'' prevails in the referendum, it would be the beginning of implementing fundamental constitutional reforms.

The polling for the referendum and the 13th national parliamentary election began today at 7:30 in the morning and will continue until 4:30 in the afternoon.

The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), AMM Nasir Uddin, expressed the hope that a fair, beautiful, peaceful, and festive election would be the result of everyone's collective effort.

Previously, the last three national elections under the Awami League government were controversial. Among them, the 2014 election became known as ''one-sided,'' the 2018 election as ''midnight voting,'' and the 2024 election as ''dummy election.'' Among the last three chief election commissioners, two are currently in prison. A significant portion of voters were unable to vote in the past elections.