Bangladesh goes to the polls on February 12 in its first competitive election in 15 years, following the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s government.
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It will be one of the largest elections in the world, with more than 120 million registered voters. Nearly half are under 35, and around 60 million will be voting for the first time.
Shafqat Munir, Senior Fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies, says the poll comes at a defining moment as the country seeks a reset following years of political turbulence.
The biggest thing to come out of these polls, he told Astro AWANI, would be a path to restoring democratic order.
“But there is a lot of work that still needs to be done,” he said.
“There is a need for revamping the national security architecture, resetting the economy and re-establishing genuine accountability.”
Mass protests in 2024 had forced Hasina from office, who later fled to India. Her party, the Awami League, has been barred from contesting the election.
For years, opposition parties had little space to compete, with elections marred by boycotts, arrests of senior leaders and allegations of intimidation.
This time, the absence of the Awami League has reshaped the contest.
The main race is now expected to be between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and a coalition led by the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami.
With expectations running high, Shafqat expects turnout among youth and female voters to play a decisive role.
“Established political parties are still the ones who are going to shape this election, but both the two major parties have been working very hard to appeal to the first time and young voters, and try to connect with them,” he said.
The result is also being closely watched beyond Bangladesh’s borders.
India has long regarded Bangladesh as a cornerstone of its regional strategy, bound by a shared border, security cooperation and critical transit routes linking India’s northeast to the rest of the country.
That relationship, however, has grown more complicated since Hasina’s exile in New Delhi, blunting India’s political leverage in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, China has moved quickly to expand its footprint, backing billion-dollar infrastructure projects and signing a defence agreement to build a drone factory near Bangladesh’s border.
Amid shifting regional dynamics, Malaysia stands out as a constant.
Shafqat said ties with Kuala Lumpur are unlikely to be disrupted by political change in Dhaka, with economic cooperation, labour mobility and development partnerships remaining key pillars of the relationship.
“There are many opportunities for Malaysia and Bangladesh to grow together and learn from each other,” he said, adding that across the political spectrum, Malaysia is consistently viewed as a trusted and priority partner.
