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Asia in Review (AiR) Webinar Series
Online Panel Discussion
Unpacking Bangladesh’s Parliamentary Election and Reform Referendum
Political Dynamics and Post-Transition Trajectories
Hosted by
CPG’s Constitutional Law and – Politics / Human Rights Hub (CCHH)
in cooperation with the Asian Governance Foundation (AGF)
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
3:00-4:30 p.m. ICT (GMT+7)
Online via Zoom video teleconferencing
Concept Note
Bangladesh will hold its 13th national parliamentary election on February 12, 2026, alongside a nationwide referendum on a proposed package of state reforms known as the July National Charter. The vote will be the country’s first general election since the 2024 student-led uprising that ended more than fifteen years of rule by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League. The election is being conducted under an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, formed after Hasina was forced from office and fled to India on the height of mass protests in August of last year. While the interim authorities frame the vote as a political reset, the transition remains contested and incomplete, with deep polarization and unresolved questions about accountability and institutional continuity.
The election is expected to take place in a highly constrained political field. Hasina’s Awami League is barred from participation, and the former prime minister herself has been sentenced to death by a domestic tribunal for crimes linked to the 2024 unrest, intensifying domestic and international scrutiny. The main electoral contest is therefore expected to center on the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, historically the Awami League’s principal rival and widely viewed as the frontrunner. The BNP faces competition from Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party and a former BNP ally, which is re-entering electoral politics after years of exclusion. A third actor, the National Citizen Party—formed by leaders of the 2024 protest movement—seeks to translate street mobilization into electoral influence but remains organizationally weak and internally divided. More broadly, the pre-election environment is shaped by tactical alliances, opaque financing, entrenched patronage networks, and persistent concerns over civil liberties and rule of law during the interim period.
Against this backdrop, the February vote raises several critical questions. Can elections held without the participation of the Awami League generate durable political legitimacy? Will the July National Charter referendum anchor meaningful institutional reform, or function primarily as a symbolic mandate under transitional conditions? And can the interim authorities prevent election-related violence amid intense rivalry, youth mobilization, and weak enforcement capacity?
Speakers
Henning Glaser
Director, German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG); Executive Director & Chairman of the Board of Directors, Asian Governance Foundation (AGF)
Over nearly two decades, he has written and spoken extensively on Thai constitutional developments, electoral politics, and institutional power dynamics, including in publications linked to Oxford and Cambridge, and is frequently invited by public authorities and international organizations to provide analysis on constitutional and broader political developments.
Henning is also Editor-in-Chief of Asia in Review and serves as Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Asian Governance Foundation (AGF). He is a registered attorney in Germany and a qualified mediator under German law and the standards of the International Mediation Institute (IMI).
Jyoti Rahman
Economist, International Monetary Fund (IMF); Doctoral Researcher, Australian National University (ANU)
is a veteran policy economist with over 20 years of experience in macro-fiscal forecasting and modelling, public finance and fiscal policy, economic growth and development, structural and supply-side policies, and international economics. Currently a technical expert with the IMF on macroeconomic and fiscal policy issues, he is also pursuing a PhD at the Australian National University.
Jyoti has trained public service officials, taught undergraduate economics, and published policy-focused articles on economic growth and international macroeconomics.
As a lead author or key contributor to several IMF, Australian Government, and G20 publications, he has provided trusted advice to ministers and senior officials, and represented Australia at bilateral and multilateral meetings.
Arpeeta Shams Mizan
Assistant Professor, University of Dhaka; Doctoral Researcher, University of Bristol Law School
is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Dhaka and a doctoral candidate at the University of Bristol Law School. She studies the lived experiences of law in postcolonial South Asian contexts.
Lucas Meier
Program Manager, CPG; Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Asia in Review
Lucas also serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Regional Editor for South Asia of CPG’s Asia in Review newsletter and is a Fellow at the Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement (NIICE).
Agenda
3 – 3:05 p.m. | Welcoming Words Henning Glaser, Director, German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG); Executive Director & Chairman of the Board of Directors, Asian Governance Foundation (AGF) |
3:05 – 4 p.m. | Expert Panel Discussion Panelists (in alphabetical order) Henning Glaser, Director, German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG); Executive Director & Chairman of the Board of Directors, Asian Governance Foundation (AGF) Jyoti Rahman, Economist, International Monetary Fund (IMF); Doctoral Researcher, Australian National University (ANU) Arpeeta Shams Mizan, Assistant Professor (on study leave), University of Dhaka; Doctoral Researcher, University of Bristol Law School Moderated by Lucas Meier, Program Manager, CPG; Deputy Editor-in-Chief & Regional Editor for South Asia, Asia in Review |
4 – 4:25 p.m. | Open Forum Discussion |
4:30 p.m. | Concluding Remarks Henning Glaser, Director, German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG); Executive Director & Chairman of the Board of Directors, Asian Governance Foundation (AGF) |
Registration
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Inquiries
For administrative matters, please contact Ms. Venus Phuangkom at events@cpg-online.de