The leader of Bangladesh’s leading political party, Khaleda Zia, on Thursday called for the interim authorities to implement “minimum” reforms, calling for the interim authorities to speed up elections after last year’s revolution.
Zia, former prime minister and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), said, “People look forward to a widely accepted election after rapid and minimal reforms to restore the country’s democratic system.”
Zia, 79, served as prime minister of South Asian countries twice, was jailed for corruption in 2018 during her successor and lifelong rival Sheikh Hasina. Zia was released after Hasina collapsed in August and fled to exiles in India.
She flew to England for treatment in January, and from there she created an online address for her first member in six years.
“We will unite the party and prepare to lead both the movement and the nation,” Kaleda urged BNP members. “The country is going through a critical period. The fascist regime has been forced to flee for a move led by students and yourself.”
Hasina’s government was accused of politicizing courts and civil servants and staging biased elections to dismantle democratic checks on its power.
Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Prize-winning microfion pioneer who leads the caretaker government, has set up a committee that oversees many reforms.
He hopes that setting an election date will depend on what political parties agree to, but in the second half of 2025 or early 2026 they will take place. Zia called on Bangladesh to unite to tackle deteriorating law and order.
“Fascist friends and allies are hatching plots to undermine the fruits of the mass uprising,” Zia said. “We must hamper these plots through unshakable unity between ourselves and the people of Bangladeshi.”
Hasina, who continues to voluntarily defect in India, ignored arrest warrants from Dhaka to face charges that include accusations of crimes against humanity. The BNP is widely expected to control elections.