DHAKA (Reuters)

Bangladesh is working towards holding general elections by December, as announced by the party of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia after a meeting with Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser to the interim government.

The South Asian nation has been governed by a caretaker administration led by Nobel Peace laureate Yunus since August when mass protests forced then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to neighboring India.

Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and rival Hasina’s Awami League have ruled Bangladesh for most of the past three decades.

The BNP anticipates that Yunus will soon announce a roadmap for general elections, according to its secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

> “We have once again pressed them on this matter,” he stated on Monday. “He (Yunus) told us that they are working to hold the election by December.”

There was no comment from the interim administration regarding this meeting. This is the most specific timeline given, contrasting previous indications by Yunus that elections might occur by the end of 2025 or mid-2026. The BNP has been advocating for earlier elections, which they desired to have completed by August.

Last week, protests escalated, leading to thousands striking against the caretaker government and setting fire to the residence of Bangladesh’s founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, after Hasina called upon her supporters to resist the interim administration.

Yunus’ press office characterized the attack on Rahman’s residence as unintended and a reaction to Hasina’s alleged “violent” actions.

> “The government cannot evade responsibility for these incidents,” Alamgir expressed following the BNP’s meeting with Yunus on Monday. “Those incidents happened in front of law enforcement and other government agencies.”

During the meeting, the interim government affirmed its commitment to take necessary actions to control inflation, which the BNP raised as a concern. According to government data, inflation was at 9.94% in January. The central bank in its monetary policy report indicated an expectation of declining inflation in the upcoming months.