{"id":421414,"date":"2026-02-12T08:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T08:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/421414\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T08:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T08:03:09","slug":"bangladesh-election-first-poll-since-sheikh-hasina-ouster-pits-jamaat-e-islami-against-bnp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/421414\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangladesh election: First poll since Sheikh Hasina ouster pits Jamaat-e-Islami against BNP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why this could be Bangladesh’s ‘most historic’ electionpublished at 06:15 GMT<\/p>\n

06:15 GMT<\/p>\n

\"\"Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent<\/p>\n

Is this the most historic election in Bangladesh\u2019s history – or simply another turn in a turbulent political journey?<\/p>\n

It may well be the former.<\/p>\n

Shafqat Munir of Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS), a think tank, offers a stark view: for 17 years, Bangladeshis have not had a genuine chance to vote. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe last proper election was in December 2008; everything since has been a fixed match,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Nearly 60 million young voters have never “experienced a real contest” – to them, elections evoke “ballot stuffing and irregularities”.<\/p>\n

There is excitement about reclaiming the ballot – but also caution. <\/p>\n

\u201cApprehension remains high, fuelled by disinformation,\u201d Munir says.<\/p>\n

Yet he sees promise. This campaign has been far less violent than previous polls and marked by unexpected civility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not just about casting ballots,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is about a suppressed nation reclaiming its voice – perhaps the beginning of a golden hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BNPImage source, NurPhoto via Getty Images)Image caption, <\/p>\n

BNP supporters at an election meeting in Bangladesh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why this could be Bangladesh’s ‘most historic’ electionpublished at 06:15 GMT 06:15 GMT Soutik BiswasIndia Correspondent Is this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-421414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}