Polls between Dec 2025 and Mar 2026 if reforms are swiftly done: CA Yunus tells BBC
Regarding Awami League's participation in the upcoming elections, he said, "They [the Awami League] have to decide if they want to do it, I cannot decide for them."
The next parliamentary election can be held between December 2025 and March 2026, depending on how soon the interim government can implement the necessary reforms for free and fair polls, Chief Adviser Prof Mohammad Yunus has said.
In an interview with BBC's South Asia correspondent Samira Hussain, published today (6 March), Yunus said, "If reforms can be done as quickly as we wish, then December would be the time that we would hold elections. If you have a longer version of reforms, then we may need a few more months."
Regarding Awami League's participation in the upcoming elections, he said, "They [the Awami League] have to decide if they want to do it, I cannot decide for them. The Election Commission decides who participates in the election."
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He further added, "Peace and order is the most important thing, and the economy. It's a shattered economy, a devastated economy.
"It's as if there's been some terrible tornado for 16 years, and we're trying to pick up the pieces," he said during the interview held at his official residence in Dhaka recently.
He also blamed many of Bangladesh's current woes on the previous government during the interview.
"I am not supporting that these things should happen. I'm saying that, you have to consider, we are not an ideal country or an ideal city that suddenly we made. It's a continuum of the country that we inherited, a country that's been running for many, many years," he said.
When asked by the BBC about claims by members of the Awami League that Bangladesh is not safe for them, he said, "There's a court, there's a law, there's a police station, they can go and complain, register their complaint."
He further added, "You just don't go to a BBC correspondent to complain, you go to the police station to complain and see whether the law is taking its course."
