BNP sweeps Bangladesh's first post-Hasina vote; Tarique Rahman to be PM

Summary

Bangladesh's Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, won a landslide in the 12 February 2026 Jatiya Sangsad election, the first since the July 2024 uprising ended Sheikh Hasina's 15-year rule (Who Decides). The BNP took 209 of 300 directly elected seats on roughly 50% of the vote and about 37.5 million ballots; Jamaat-e-Islami finished second; the student-led National Citizen Party won just six of 30 seats it contested. Turnout was 59.44%. The vote was run by Muhammad Yunus's interim government, in office since August 2024; Yunus congratulated Rahman and prepared to hand over. Rahman, long in exile, appealed for unity. Jamaat accepted the outcome despite vote-count complaints. The transition resets ties with India, which had backed Hasina.

By the numbers

• 209 of 300, BNP's directly elected seats, a two-thirds-scale landslide.
• ~50%, BNP popular vote share; ~37.5 million ballots.
• 59.44%, turnout.
• 6 of 30, seats won by the student-led National Citizen Party.
• Aug 2024, start of Yunus's interim government, now handing over.

Why it matters

The first elected government since Hasina's fall determines whether Bangladesh consolidates a pluralist transition or recreates winner-take-all rule under a BNP supermajority. It reshapes Dhaka's relations with India, China and the West, and the fate of the youth movement that drove the uprising.

What to watch

• The formal handover from Yunus and Rahman's cabinet formation.
• Whether a BNP supermajority governs inclusively or sidelines Jamaat and the NCP.
• Dhaka–Delhi relations and the legal pursuit of Hasina-era figures.