February 14, 2026 | 11:23 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has claimed victory in Bangladesh’s first national election since the 2024 student-led uprising that ousted longtime leader Sheikh Hasina.
Unofficial results cited by Al Jazeera on Friday show the BNP securing 209 seats, comfortably surpassing the 151-seat threshold required for a parliamentary majority.
The party is led by Tarique Rahman, son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. BNP officials said they aim to form a government on Sunday, which would position Tarique as the country’s next prime minister. He has not yet commented on the unofficial results.
Finishing second was Jamaat-e-Islami, which won 68 seats, marking its strongest performance to date. Led by Shafiqur Rahman, the Islamist party contested the election for the first time since a 2013 ban was lifted following Hasina’s removal from office.
However, Jamaat has questioned the integrity of the vote-counting process and expressed dissatisfaction with the preliminary results.
The National Citizen Party (NCP), formed by young activists who played a key role in the 2024 protests and allied with Jamaat, won six of the 30 seats it contested.
The Election Commission has yet to announce the official final tally, expected later on Friday or Saturday. Voter turnout reached nearly 60 percent, significantly higher than the roughly 42 percent recorded in the 2024 election.
More than 127 million people were eligible to vote in the election, which featured over 50 political parties and at least 2,000 candidates, many running as independents. Bangladesh’s parliament has 350 seats, including 50 reserved for women.
The vote marks the first competitive election in years following the political upheaval that forced Hasina to flee to India in 2024 after months of mass protests, many led by students, during which hundreds were killed in clashes with security forces.
Since then, a caretaker administration led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, 85, has overseen the transition.
Tarique, 60, returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in exile in the United Kingdom. On Friday, he was seen waving to supporters from his car in the capital, Dhaka, as he headed to a mosque.
In a statement, the BNP urged supporters to avoid large-scale celebrations and instead offer prayers.
“Despite winning … by a large margin of votes, no celebratory procession or rally shall be organised,” the party said.
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