Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus on Monday sought full Commonwealth support for the general election scheduled for the first half of February 2026.
“We need your support in our democratic transition as well as in the upcoming general election,” Yunus told Commonwealth Secretary General Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey during a meeting at the state guest house Jamuna.
He thanked her for her interest in Bangladesh’s electoral process and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to holding a “free, fair, credible and festive” election.
Botchwey assured Yunus of the Commonwealth’s “full support” for both the election and the post-poll transition. “There are vast resources within the Commonwealth, 56 countries, including members of the G7 and G20—that Bangladesh could draw on,” she said.
The secretary-general said she had met the chief justice, law adviser, foreign affairs adviser and chief election commissioner and was “very hopeful about the future of the country.” She confirmed that several Commonwealth observer teams would be deployed ahead of the polls.
Both sides also discussed youth empowerment, entrepreneurship, expanding social businesses and Yunus’ “three-zero vision” aimed at reducing unemployment, carbon emissions and inequality.