The Transparency International Bangladesh on Sunday said that money-, muscle-, and religion-based politics continued to hold hostage women’s political representation.
The anti-graft watchdog also said that the interim government had failed to establish a strong and credible foundation to curb corruption and ensure accountability and democratic governance while it failed to succeed in most of the fields.
The TIB came up with the observations while presenting an observation-based research report titled ‘One and a Half Years after the Fall of the Authoritarian Regime: Expectations and Realities’ at a press conference at its office in Dhaka.
The TIB warned that the fragile reform process and the government failure to control mob violence could adversely affect the February 12 Jatiya Sangsad election.
According to the TIB, the expansion and growing influence of religion-based politics have become increasingly visible, with violence and coercion posing threats to gender equality and religious, cultural and ethnic diversity, in contradiction to the spirit of the Anti-Discrimination Movement.
In some cases, inaction or appeasement by the authorities has contributed to the empowerment of religious extremists, it said.
Referring to its earlier findings, the TIB said that a record number of candidates from Islamic political parties are contesting the upcoming election, while women’s participation has declined.
Candidates from Islamic parties account for 36.35 per cent of the total contestants in the February 12 polls, compared with 9.50 per cent in 2024, 29.66 per cent in 2018, 1.10 per cent in 2014 and 22.11 per cent in 2008.
Female candidates make up only 4.02 per cent of the contestants in the upcoming election, down from 5.15 per cent in 2024, 4.07 per cent in 2018 and 5.89 per cent in 2014.
The TIB also observed that the interim government had failed to ensure equality, human dignity, justice, equal rights, and freedom of expression for all.
While there has been some progress in the judiciary, partisan tendencies and appointments of politically aligned law officers continued during the government’s tenure.
The law and order deteriorated over the period, with murder, robbery and violence against women and children continuing, alongside a rise in mob killings.
The TIB reported around 600 incidents of political violence between August 2024 and December 2025, in which at least 158 political activists were killed.
It claimed that BNP activists were involved in 91.7 per cent of incidents, Awami League activists in 20.7 per cent, and Jamaat-e-Islami activists in 7.7 per cent incidents.
At least 15 people were killed in the 36 days following the announcement of the election schedule on December 11.
According to the TIB, partisan and patronage-based politics remain entrenched in the education and health sectors, while reforms in these areas have not received adequate government attention.
Stakeholders’ views about education, health and local government reforms were largely ignored.
On media freedom, the TIB said that although there was no direct attempt by the government to impose control, pressure was exerted through mob violence.
Journalists, writers, and human rights defenders continued to face attacks and harassment, with six journalists killed while on duty during the past one and half year.
Media offices of Prothom Alo and The Daily Star were unprecedentedly attacked, looted, vandalised and set on fire by mobs, amid government inaction and ineffective response, said the TIB.
Between August 2024 and December 2025, at least 497 harassment incidents were recorded, affecting 1,104 media workers.
TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said that reform initiatives taken by the interim government largely missed their targets due to resistance from influential political parties and reform-averse sections of the bureaucracy.
He said that while consensus on some reform issues was reached via the July National Charter, key accountability provisions were excluded from important ordinances.
‘Instead of ending politicisation, a tripartite influence now prevails in the bureaucracy,’ he said, referring to beneficiaries of the fallen regime and affiliates of two major political parties.
He also warned that ad-hoc decision-making, lack of coordination among state institutions and failure to ensure free flow of information had created public insecurity.
Despite progress in judicial reform, he said the slow pace of justice and procedural weaknesses had blurred the line between justice and revenge.
The TIB also said that political parties and the bureaucracy had failed to learn lessons from the July movement, adding that the shortcomings outweighed progress in achieving a new political and social settlement.
