“We want to make election day like the festival of Eid. This time, the joy of voting will be among everyone. All of you will go to the polling centre with your children — to present the grandeur of exercising civic rights to future generations”-Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus
Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus last night announced that the general election will be held before Ramadan in February 2026, kickstarting the process of handing over the power to an elected government.
In a televised address to the nation marking one year of the July uprising, he said he would send a letter to the chief election commissioner, requesting that the Election Commission organise the polls at that time.
Ramadan will begin on February 17 or 18 next year, which means the election may be held in the first half of February.
Prof Yunus announced the much-anticipated election timeframe just hours after unveiling the July Declaration, which calls for constitutional and state recognition of the 2024 student-led mass uprising that ended Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule.
“We want to make election day like the festival of Eid. This time, the joy of voting will be among everyone. All of you will go to the polling centre with your children — to present the grandeur of exercising civic rights to future generations,” he said.
The chief adviser said that his government will begin mental and institutional preparations from tomorrow to ensure that this election becomes memorable in the country’s history in terms of joy and festivity, peace and order, voter turnout, and mutual respect and sincerity.
