Bangladesh's interim government sets April 2026 for elections amid political tension and Sheikh Hasina’s ongoing trial.

The interim government of Bangladesh announced on Friday that the country’s next general election is scheduled to take place in the first half of April 2026.

"After reviewing the ongoing reform activities..., I am announcing to the people today that the next national election will be held on any day in the first half of April 2026," Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus said during a televised national address on Friday.

Yunus reaffirmed that the timeframe aligns with earlier projections. "I have repeatedly said the election will be held between December and June next year," he emphasized.

Yunus further stated that the country's Election Commission will unveil a detailed road map for the upcoming election at an appropriate time.

Since student-led unrest in 2024 culminated in the removal of then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August, the politically volatile South Asian nation has been under the rule of Yunus’ unelected interim government.

Sheikh Hasina is currently in India and is facing charges in absentia before Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal. The charges center on her administration’s handling of the mass protests that ended her 15-year tenure in office.

Prosecutors allege that Hasina orchestrated a violent crackdown on demonstrators, including issuing the order that led to the killing of Abu Sayeed, a student protester and the first fatality during the uprising.

Hasina has dismissed the accusations as politically driven. Her party, the Awami League, has been officially banned while the trial is ongoing. The party was further sidelined from the upcoming election when the Election Commission suspended its registration last month.

Meanwhile, opposition factions — most notably the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — have been urging the government to present a transparent timeline for restoring democracy, following Hasina’s ousting last August.

These parties have warned of potential unrest if the election is not held by December.

BNP leader and former prime minister Khaleda Zia is eligible to run in the next election after being acquitted earlier this year in a 2008 corruption case.