The next general elections in Bangladesh are expected to take place to elect members of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad, following the implementation of essential constitutional and institutional reforms by the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus. A constituent assembly election will take place before the general elections to draft a new democratic constitution, ensuring the inviolability of human dignity.[1] The interim government has established a Constitutional Reform Commission for this purpose.
The 12thSangsad was dissolved by PresidentMohammed Shahabuddin following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina.[2] 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 civil unrest against the government which eventually culminated in Hasina's resignation on 5 August.
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.[8] This was rejected by Hasina, who vowed that "Bangladesh will never allow an unelected government again".[9] Hasina's resistance to a caretaker government arose following the 2006–2008 crisis, during which a caretaker government assumed military control of the country and arrested a number of political leaders, including Hasina and Khaleda Zia. [10] Zia was sentenced to prison for five years on February 8, 2018, for her involvement in the Zia Orphanage corruption case.[11] The sentence was then modified to 10 years.[12] 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.[13] He was sentenced to life in prison. As such, he was barred from running for office.[14] Zia was released by Shahabuddin following Hasina's resignation.[15]
The 350 members of the Jatiya Sangsad consist of 300 directly elected seats using first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies, and an additional 50 seats reserved for women. The reserved seats are elected proportionally by the elected members. Each parliament sits for a five-year term.[16]
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