The youth of Bangladesh will collect this Thursday the fruits of what was sown two years ago in that revolt what did it cost 1.400 muertos. When the prime minister, Sheikh Hasinafled by helicopter with the mob already at the doors of his mansion in Dakka, many spoke of “the second independence” alluding to the opportunity to clean up the country. The day arrives after a tortuous path through which some illusions of the Generation Z who organized that revolt have been trampled.
The eighth most populous country in the world and one of the poorest in Asia returns to the polls for the first time since 2024. Those were the fifth time won by the Liga Hawami of Hasina in the face of the boycott of the main opposition formation, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Protests arose shortly after over a system of quotas that reserved a third of public employment for relatives of veterans who fought in the war of independence against Pakistan. Los youthsgrappling with a dry labor market, judged the move as a gift to the Hawami League electorate and took to the streets. When the Supreme Court cut that figure to just 5%, it was already too late: the students demanded justice for the death and Hasina’s immediate resignation. He escaped to the India and was sentenced in absentia to death by the Bangladeshi justice system for order police to shoot protesters. From his exile in India he heard the death sentence.
There has been no shortage of complaints about the bias of the electoral commission, but these elections are expected to be much cleaner and freer than those that Hasina was aiming for. Will participate for the first time diasporamade up of almost 15 million peoplevital for the national economy with its money remittances. In parallel with the parliamentary composition, the so-called July’s letter. It will be the legacy of Muhammad Yunus85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the interim Government. It is a document that aims to prevent institutions from being twisted as Hasina did. It limits the mandates of the prime minister, contemplates a second parliamentary lower house, reinforces the powers of the president and shields the judicial establishment. Its approval is taken for granted due to the support of all parties and the conviction that it is urgent to protect democracy from the excesses of power. It will be the last service to his country of the man known as the “banker of the poor” for his microcredit policy that has improved the lives of millions of needy people.
Climate of violence
But not even the admirable Yunus has been able to ensure law and order. The elections come in a climate of violence y vandalismwith increasing religious intolerance y attacks on the press such as the recent arrest of twenty journalists critical of the Army.
That Bangladeshi revolution inspired other youth on the continent to rebel against the nepotism and corruption of their ruling classes. This regenerative path ends with two representatives of the old guard arguing over power. One is the BNP, led by Tariq Rahmanreturned to Dakka in December after almost two decades in exile. Her mother is Khaleda Zia, Hasina’s nemesis and released from prison after her escape. The other is Jamaat-e-Islamia conservative Islamist formation that claims to be the only one clean in widespread corruption.
From that youth movement that overthrew the autocracy, the National Citizens Party But the two years have seemed very long for young people with more good intentions than fangs. He has not made a place for himself in the hostile political scene and has ended up allying himself with the Islamists to ensure parliamentary presence. The measure generated frustration and casualties. A coalition with a party opposed to the secular population and without any women in its ranks is very far from the revolution for which they risked their lives in those leaden days.
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