{"id":2133,"date":"2026-02-12T12:01:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=2133"},"modified":"2026-02-12T12:01:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:01:58","slug":"an-era-defining-election-for-bangladesh-where-gen-z-toppled-an-autocrat-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=2133","title":{"rendered":"An era-defining election for Bangladesh, where Gen Z toppled an autocrat | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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After years of authoritarian rule, there is hope that this election in Bangladesh will put the country on a path to democracy.<\/p>\n

It is the first time people will be able to have their say since a mass student uprising in 2024 led to the ouster of the country’s longest-serving prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.<\/p>\n

Read more: Bangladesh votes in first general election since bloody ousting of Sheikh Hasina<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a day the world saw Gen Z topple an autocrat.<\/p>\n

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\n Sheikh Hasina speaks during a press conference in Dhaka in 2014. Pic: AP
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Once an icon of democracy and economic progress, Hasina is now in self-imposed exile in India, convicted and sentenced to death for ordering a brutal crackdown against protestors.<\/p>\n

The UN estimates 1,400 people were killed in less than two months.<\/p>\n

Her party, the once-dominant Awami League, is banned from this election, challenging claims from the caretaker government that this will be an entirely free and fair election.<\/p>\n

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\n A nun casts her vote in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Pic: AP
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But it is, at very least and for the first time in a very long time, an election where it’s hard to predict the outcome.<\/p>\n

Many will be seeing it as a test to assess the strength and impact of the youth vote and student movements in other parts of the world, like Nepal.<\/p>\n

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\n A woman shows her thumb with an ink mark after casting a vote during Bangladesh’s general election. Pic: Reuters
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In both countries, frustration over a lack of jobs and endemic corruption exploded, unseating long-established leaderships.<\/p>\n

But the truth is, it’s the old guard looming large in this vote on the surface.<\/p>\n

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\n Voters stand in the queue to cast their vote at a polling station in Dhaka. Pic: Reuters
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The Bangladesh Nationalist Party is the frontrunner, the largest party, led by Tarique Rahman, son of the former PM Khaleda Zia.<\/p>\n

He is part of a well-established dynasty.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong>
Bangladesh’s first female prime minister dies<\/a>
India walks tightrope harbouring deposed Bangladeshi PM<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then there’s Jamaat-e-Islami, banned under Hasina and dedicated to running the country under Islamic law.<\/p>\n

In December, the student-led National Citizens Party (NCP) made the controversial choice to ally with the much older party.<\/p>\n

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\n A woman shows her thumb with an ink mark after casting a vote during Bangladesh’s general election. Pic: Reuters
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The split within the youth vote could limit the political impact and influence of young voters.<\/p>\n

But there are a lot of them, about 45% of the 128 million registered voters are between the ages of 18 and 33, according to the Election Commission.<\/p>\n

Nobody yet knows what they will do, or the many Awami League voters unable to back their party. So far, there are some early indications of low voter turnout in Awami strongholds.<\/p>\n

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