Bangladesh nationalists claim big election win

DHAKA

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairman and election candidate Tarique Rahman arrives at the party office in Dhaka on Feb. 13, 2026.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) claimed a thumping win on Feb. 13 in the first elections held since a deadly 2024 uprising, with leader Tarique Rahman poised to become prime minister.

BNP's main rival Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party leading a wider coalition, said it had "serious questions about the integrity of the results process".

Rahman told AFP two days before polling he was "confident" that his party, crushed during the 15-year autocratic rule of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, would regain power in the South Asian nation of 170 million people.

The U.S. embassy swiftly congratulated Rahman and the BNP for a "historic victory", while neighbouring India praised his "decisive win", significant after rocky recent relations with Dhaka.

China and Pakistan, which both grew closer to Bangladesh since the uprising and the souring of ties with India, who has sheltered Hasina since her ouster, also congratulated the BNP.

Broadcasters projected that the BNP had secured a two-thirds majority with 212 seats in parliament, with Jamaat winnng 76, a huge leap from past results, but far short of the outright win it had campaigned for.

The Election Commission said that turnout was 59 percent,

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who will step down once the new government takes power, has urged all to stay calm.

"We may have differences of opinion, but we must remain united in the greater national interest," he said.

The 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has led Bangladesh since Hasina's rule ended with her ouster in August 2024.