Background
The Awami League won the 2024 general elections following a record low voter turnout and a controversial election. In spite of this, they formed a government. [2] The United States Department of State stated that the election was not free and fair [3] and the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office termed the election lacking the preconditions of democracy. [4] According to The Economist , through this election, "Bangladesh effectively became a one-party state". [5]
The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), demanded that the government hand over power to a neutral caretaker government before the January 2024 elections. [6] This was rejected by Hasina, who vowed that "Bangladesh will never allow an unelected government again". [7] Hasina's resistance to a caretaker government arose following the 2006–2008 political crisis, during which a caretaker government assumed military-backed control of the country and arrested a number of political leaders, including Hasina and the former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. [8] Khaleda Zia was sentenced to prison for five years on 8 February 2018, for her involvement in the Zia Orphanage corruption case. [9] The sentence was then modified to 10 years. [10] Zia's successor as chair of the party, her son Tarique Rahman, was also found guilty of criminal conspiracy and multiple counts of murder for a grenade attack in 2004 that injured Hasina and killed 24 people. [11] He was sentenced to life in prison. As such, he was barred from running for office. [12]
In June 2024, student protests erupted throughout the country, demanding the reform of quotas in government jobs. The protests were met with brutal crackdown by law-enforcement agencies and paramilitary forces, resulting in the deaths of many students. By August, the protests intensified into large-scale mass uprising against the government which eventually culminated in Sheikh Hasina's resignation on 5 August. The following day, the 12th Sangsad was dissolved by President Mohammed Shahabuddin. [13] Khaleda Zia was released by the President of Bangladesh following Hasina's resignation. [14]
Following negotiations between student leaders and the Armed Forces, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was appointed as the Chief Adviser to lead an interim government with a view of leading the country to new elections. [15] The student leaders of the protest movement have also formed political groups like National Citizen Party (NCP) and are assumed to participate in the election.
Over time, serious disagreements have arisen over participation of the Awami League in the polls. BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi & Jatiya Party leader GM Quader supported the participation of Awami League in the polls. Bangladesh Army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman had reportedly stated that the participation of a 'refined' Awami League led by leaders with 'clean' image like Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh & Saber Hossain Chowdhury is necessary to ensure that the elections are 'free, fair & inclusive'. [16] However, student agitators placed within the interim government like Mahfuj Alam bitterly opposed the participation of the Awami League in the polls. [17] NCP leader Nahid Islam also voiced his opposition to participation of the Awami League in the polls, unless its leaders are put on trial for the July massacre. He stated that any attempt to relaunch the so-called refined Awami League in the elections amounts to foreign interference. [18] Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Shafiqur Rahman has also expressed his dissent against allowing Awami League participating in the polls. [16]
A petition demanding a ban on the Awami League & its associates of the Grand Alliance filed by the student agitators [19] had been turned down by the Appellate Division. [20] On 9 April 2025, the NCP, the Jamaat-e-Islami & other Islamist organisations like the Hefazat-e-Islam staged a protest in front of the Jamuna guesthouse, the temporary residence of the Chief Adviser, demanding a ban on the Awami League. [21] On the following day, the interim government banned Awami League and all of its activities in cyberspace and elsewhere, under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The ban would last until the International Crimes Tribunal completes the trial of the party and its leaders. [22] [23]
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