Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast: Bangladesh’s Real Test Begins After the Ballot

On 12 February 2026, Bangladesh went to the polls and, by most accounts, did so with calm resolve.

Nearly 60 per cent of voters exercised their franchise. Polling arrangements were largely smooth. The Election Commission, operating under the interim administration, delivered a complex national exercise with professionalism that deserves recognition. In a country where elections have often carried the shadow of violence and mistrust, this mattered.

But democracy is not secured by a well-run polling day alone. It is tested in the long shadow that follows.

Forty per cent of eligible voters did not cast a ballot. Some abstained by choice, some by quiet instruction, others because they believed change was unlikely or that no candidate truly represented them. Participation was real and should be respected. Yet disengagement was real too. The new government must read both signals honestly.

With the Bangladesh Nationalist Party set to form the government and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies occupying the opposition benches, the arithmetic of power is settled. What remains unsettled is the character of governance. Citizens are not looking to be ruled. They are asking to be governed – constitutionally, inclusively and justly.

The constitution already provides the blueprint. Equality before the law and equal protection of the law are not aspirational slogans; they are enforceable guarantees. The right to protection of life, liberty, body and reputation is not discretionary. If these commitments are not felt in police stations, courtrooms, labour offices and local administrations, electoral democracy risks becoming theatre.

The new government inherits fragile institutions. Trust in law enforcement is thin. Judicial delays erode confidence. The line between legislators and local power brokers has blurred. Rebuilding institutional credibility is less glamorous than launching infrastructure projects, but without it even the most ambitious development agenda will rest on sand.

Structural change must therefore precede celebratory announcements of growth. Reviving the economy, stabilising the banking sector and restoring investor confidence are urgent. But growth without justice is merely an expansion of inequality. Systems that remain pro-power and anti-people will reproduce exclusion, no matter which party occupies office.

Fifty-one per cent of Bangladesh's citizens are women. They are not a "sector"; they are the majority. Yet many women and girls have experienced heightened insecurity, exclusion and violence in recent months. The fact that gender injustice predates this election offers no comfort. Historical failure cannot excuse present inaction.

Gender-sensitive governance must move from the margins to the centre. That means more than symbolic appointments. It requires budgets that recognise unpaid care work. It demands policing protocols that treat survivors of rape with dignity and urgency rather than suspicion. It means ensuring justice is delivered in courts of law, not diluted through informal mediation or political patronage. It requires ending moral policing that constrains women's mobility and expression under the guise of culture.

Youth, too, demand more than campaign rhetoric. Bangladesh's demographic dividend will turn into demographic disillusionment if education does not translate into decent work. Child labour laws that permit teenagers in hazardous industries must be revisited. Informal workers – from domestic workers to gig labourers – require enforceable minimum standards and social protection. A modern economy cannot be built on precarious lives.

None of this unfolds in isolation. The new administration governs amid unforgiving geopolitics. Bangladesh sits at a crossroads of strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, balancing relationships with regional powers while safeguarding sovereignty and economic stability. Trade dependencies, energy security and migration flows are shaped as much by global currents as by domestic decisions. Diplomatic agility will be essential, but so will clarity about national priorities rooted in people's welfare.

Layered atop geopolitics is the accelerating climate crisis. Bangladesh remains among the countries most vulnerable to sea-level rise, cyclones and salinity intrusion. Climate adaptation is not a distant agenda; it is a daily necessity. Coastal livelihoods are under strain. Urban centres are swelling with internal climate migrants. Infrastructure planning, agricultural reform and social protection systems must all be climate-literate. International climate finance should be pursued assertively, but domestic accountability in its use will be just as critical.

In this context, governance cannot afford to be extractive or exclusionary. When economic shocks or natural disasters strike, it is women, the poor and marginalised communities who bear disproportionate burdens. A gender-blind climate policy will deepen inequality. A corruption-blind recovery plan will entrench it.

The prime minister faces a defining choice. Power can be insulated, surrounded by loyalists and shielded from critique. Or it can be exercised with the humility to listen – especially to those who did not vote, who did not win, who do not occupy privileged spaces. Inclusion is not weakness; it is durability.

Responsibility does not rest solely with politicians. Patronage politics survives because it is socially tolerated. Under-the-table deals persist because they are privately rationalised. Violence, including gender-based violence, is normalised in everyday spaces long before it erupts into headlines. Structural reform requires cultural reform. Strategy will fail if culture remains untouched.

The 2026 election demonstrated that Bangladesh can conduct a participatory and largely peaceful vote. That achievement should be acknowledged. But its deeper meaning will be decided now. Will this transition alter only the occupants of office? Or will it shift the country from a politics of control to a politics of justice?

The ballot has spoken. The real test – of institutions, inclusion and integrity – begins after the ballot.