Bangladesh’s fugitive ex-leader warns of mass voter boycott in 2026 polls

Sheikh Hasina, a fugitive former leader of Bangladesh, has warned that the country’s rifts would grow if her Awami League party were to be excluded from the upcoming elections, leading to a vote-buying boycott by millions of her supporters.

The 78-year-old, who is currently imprisoned in India after being toppled by a student-led uprising in August 2024, saw up to 1,400 people die in attacks on her as she clung to power.

In response to anti-terrorist act amendments, Muhammad Yunus’ interim government has pledged to hold elections in February, but it has already banned the Awami League. The interim government has cited national security threats and war crimes investigations involving senior party leaders.

In emailed comments to the Reuters news agency on Wednesday, Hasina wrote that the Awami League’s ban is “unjust and self-defeating.”

“As things stand, millions of people do not vote,” according to the Awami League. If you want a functioning political system, you can’t disenfranchise millions of people.

Bangladesh, home to more than 126 million registered voters, has long had a strong political influence over the Awami League and its rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The BNP boycotted the January 2024 elections because its top leaders were either imprisoned or in exile.

The Awami League’s ban has been criticized as “draconian” by Human Rights Watch. In its absence, the BNP is expected to win the next year’s election, while Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party, is gaining popularity.

Hasina informed Reuters about the upcoming elections, “We are not asking Awami League voters to support other parties.” We still hoped that the election will be decided by consensus and that we would be able to vote for ourselves.

The “nucleus” of all crimes

The domestic war crimes court for Bangladesh’s largest nation has adjourned the case against Hasina, and a verdict is anticipated on November 13.

Tajul Islam, the chief prosecutor, claimed that Hasina was “the nucleus around which all crimes were committed” during the uprising and demanded that her death sentence be sentenced.

She is accused of overseeing the disappearances and torture of opposition activists at shady detention facilities run by security forces, according to the prosecution.

Hasina has defied court orders to go back to the trial. According to her, the proceeding was “a politically motivated charade.”

“They’ve been tried by kangaroo courts, and the verdict is a foregone conclusion,” they say.

Hasina described the allegations that she had ordered security forces to fire on protesters as “bogus” in an AFP news agency email interview on Wednesday and said she mourned the “tragic days” of her crackdown.

The prosecution, which insisted her trial was fair, has released audiotapes that suggested Hasina had specifically ordered her security forces to “use lethal weapons” against protesters.