The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) announced that former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Khalida Zija died on Tuesday at the age of 80. According to many, this politician would convincingly win next year’s elections and rule her country again, TASR reports, according to an AFP report.
- Bangladeshi ex-prime minister Chálida Zijáová died at the age of 80.
- Zijáová planned to participate in the 2026 elections despite her health problems.
- She was the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is now headed by her son.
- Zijáová faced prison and corruption charges in the past.
“BNP chairperson and former prime minister, national leader Begum Khalida Zijíová, died today at 6:00 a.m. (local time), immediately after the Fajr prayer,” the party said in a statement, citing one of Islam’s five obligatory prayers, which is performed before sunrise. “We pray for forgiveness for her soul and ask everyone to pray for her departed soul,” the party added in a statement.
Despite years of health problems and imprisonment, the ex-prime minister in November of this year pledged to participate in the campaign in the elections scheduled for February 2026. This is the first election since last year’s mass uprising, in which her arch-rival Hasína Vadžídová was overthrown. Zija’s BNP party is widely considered to be the favorite in the upcoming elections.
At the end of November, however, she was rushed to the hospital, where, despite the doctors’ best efforts, her condition worsened due to a number of health problems. During her last days, interim leader Muhammad Yunus called on people to pray for her, calling her “a source of supreme inspiration for the nation.”
Zija was jailed for corruption in 2018 during Vajid’s government, which also prevented her from traveling abroad for medical treatment, writes AFP. She was released last year shortly before Vajida’s overthrow and her flight into exile. At the beginning of this month, it was planned to transport Zijá by a special air ambulance to London, but her condition was not stable enough for that.
Her son Tarik Rahman returned to Bangladesh last week after 17 years in self-imposed exile, where he was greeted by huge crowds of supporters. Rahman will lead the party into the February 12 general election and is expected to be nominated as prime minister if he wins a majority.
