Bangladesh prepares for its first election since 2024 uprising as voters are concerned of corruption

Bangladesh is preparing for its first election since a student-led uprising in 2024 that left the former prime minister exiled. Yet, many young voters fear that corruption and political instability will erode election day. 

The election will take place tomorrow, where 127 million registered voters will be eligible to participate. 

The authorities have deployed 157,000 police officers, soldiers, and security officials, who will be stationed at election checkpoints to monitor the voting. However, despite heightened security measures, most polling stations are flagged as high risk due to high violence rates in the country, signifying its struggle with political stability. 

A Bangladeshi university student X, who has been granted anonymity due to safety concerns, says that the political student party “doesn’t have much hope of winning” because they haven’t been able to gain “any real political power” since the 2024 uprising. 

The interim government, led by student leaders after the uprising, was initially promising. Yet, youngsters like X say that rising crime rates due to disorganization have broken public trust. 

“The crime rate has gone up. People feel fearless because there’s no strong government, that’s why people don’t have hope,” she said. 

X also voiced concern about unequal access to voting across different economic classes.

“Some people can go vote in private cars,” she said, “But for people who rely on public transport, vendors are charging 800 to 1,000 taka instead of 200. Many can’t afford that,” she added. 

A lack of women’s representation is also of concern. Expert on South Asian politics, Edmund Chen, said that only about 10 to 15 percent of the parliament is reserved for women. 

“They seriously lack women's representation even though the working force is dominated by women. It is mainly because the former ousted Prime Minister failed to win the people over so the public is losing trust in female leaders,” he commented. 

For the international community, X urged the wider public to look beyond the election to fully understand the political climate in Bangladesh.

“Every party (in the election) has major problems. To understand Bangladesh now, you need to know how these parties came to power,” she said.