Overview

• Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus said he will request the election commission to hold national polls in February 2026, two months earlier than the originally planned April window.
• The move responds to mounting public disappointment over enduring corruption and stagnant governance more than a year after Sheikh Hasina’s removal from power.
• Aside from a landmark banking resolution law, most political and economic reforms have yielded little progress under the interim administration.
• Ethnic and religious violence has surged across the country, revealing deep security failures as reform commissions struggle to stem social cleavages.
• The trial in India over alleged crimes against humanity by exiled former Prime Minister Hasina continues with no prospect of extradition.