Dhaka (AFP) - Millions of young people in Bangladesh will vote on Thursday in legislative elections, the first since the fall of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the summer of 2024, after many of them were reluctant at her time to participate in elections marred by fraud and the exclusion of the opposition.

Published on: 02/11/2026 - 16:25

Young people between the ages of 18 and 37 make up 44 percent of the country's 129 million voters, and many of them say they never voted during the era of Hasina, who ruled for 15 years.

But the Election Commission expects high voter turnout rates this time.

Faizullah Wasif (33 years old), a university official preparing to cast his vote for the first time, said that he did not vote when Hasina was in power because he felt that his vote would not make any difference.

He added, "I did not participate mainly because of fear and anxiety. I did not even feel any interest."

The increasing number of young voters forced parties to recalibrate their messages, and the Internet began to play a major role in their election campaigns, with them resorting to publishing video clips on Facebook and TikTok.

"trance"

Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party, which previously ruled, was banned from contesting these elections.

Parties that were persecuted during their era, such as the Bangladesh National Party and its allies, and a coalition led by the Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamic party in the country, are participating in the ballot.

The official in the Election Commission, Abdul Fadl Muhammad Sanaullah, confirmed to reporters that many young people who are now in their twenties and thirties were deprived of voting for the parties they preferred during the Hasina era. Today, “we see a state of euphoria among the people” ahead of the vote, he said.

Ashfa Bint Latif (21 years old), a student at Dhaka University, said that her parents talked to her about elections in the past, before the Hasina era, when polling day was a holiday.

"Now that we have been able to change the system, I feel very excited," she added.

The National Citizens Party, which was formed by the students who led the uprising, allied itself with the Islamic Group.

Bint Latif said that she was waiting for different options from student leaders, but she is excited for change.

“We expect young people to lead us, and they have done so in many ways,” she said. “If they fail, it will be a failure for all young people.”

The spark that ignited the 2024 protests began at universities, where they were launched by students who opposed a quota system for government jobs that they said deprived them of employment.

A government that respects the opposition

A year and a half later, Bangladesh's economy remains fragile and graduates face difficulty in obtaining jobs.

Election expert Muhammad Abdul Aleem, a former member of the Bangladesh Electoral Reforms Commission, said he expects strong youth participation.

"These young voters will carry this feeling of disenfranchisement with them to the elections and vote," he said.

Of the nearly two thousand candidates competing for the 350 seats, about 1,400 are running for the first time, while more than 600 of them are 44 years old or younger, according to Election Commission statistics.

Wasif believes Bangladesh will benefit from new faces.

He said, "Our confidence in the youth is very strong and our hopes are high."

He added, "Since this change came thanks to the youth, I believe that the political culture in Bangladesh will witness a radical transformation through them."

Bint Latif hopes that the change will pave the way for more democratic leadership through “a government that does not see opponents as enemies, but rather respects them.”

© 2026 AFP

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