Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed has accused Bangladesh’s interim government of undermining democracy ahead of the country’s February elections, claiming the ban on the Awami League has deliberately excluded
a large section of voters from the electoral process.
In a post on X on New Year’s Eve, Wazed described the February 2026 polls as “democracy denied”, alleging that the Yunus-led interim administration had engineered the election by barring his party from participating.
“Bangladesh’s February 2026 election is not a return to democracy — it’s democracy denied,” Wazed wrote, criticising the decision to ban the Awami League.
He claimed that the move had effectively disenfranchised nearly 60 percent of voters in the country of more than 171 million people, pointing to the Awami League’s electoral support base during his mother’s years in power.
“By banning the Awami League, the party of Sheikh Hasina and the choice of nearly 60 percent of voters, the Yunus government has deliberately locked millions out of the electoral process,” Wazed said. “An election that excludes the majority is not democratic — it is engineered.”
“This was not reform. It was a calculated political strike,” he added.
Wazed’s comments came as Bangladesh on Wednesday held a state funeral for former prime minister Khaleda Zia, marking the end of an era dominated by rivalry between the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Bangladesh’s February 2026 election is not a return to democracy — it’s democracy denied.
By banning the Awami League, the party of Sheikh Hasina and the choice of nearly 60% of voters, the Yunus government has deliberately locked millions out of the electoral process. An…
— Sajeeb Wazed (@sajeebwazed) December 31, 2025
Zia, the first woman to serve as Bangladesh’s prime minister, died on Tuesday at the age of 80. Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Dhaka as her coffin was carried through the capital draped in the national flag, with flags flown at half-mast and heavy security deployed.
Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia had earlier vowed to campaign in elections scheduled for February 12, the first national vote since Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a mass uprising in 2024.
The BNP is widely regarded as a frontrunner in the upcoming polls, with Zia’s son Tarique Rahman, who returned to Bangladesh last week after 17 years in exile, seen as a potential prime ministerial candidate if the party secures a majority.
New Reception, Old History
History doesn’t disappear—it returns repackaged. What we’re seeing now is not chaos, but a familiar politics where violence becomes a system, extortion a currency, and loyalty is bought, not earned.
The years may change—2001, 2006, 2024—but the method… pic.twitter.com/Gp9kCZ3udZ
— Bangladesh Awami League (@albd1971) December 31, 2025
The Awami League, meanwhile, has used its social media platforms to warn voters against supporting the BNP. In recent posts, the party invoked the so-called “Hawa Bhaban” era, referring to an office complex in Dhaka that critics described as an unofficial power centre during BNP rule under Khaleda Zia.
Hawa Bhaban was widely associated with Tarique Rahman at a time when he held no formal government position, and has long been cited by the Awami League as a symbol of alleged parallel governance and political interference. BNP leaders have denied the allegations.
The Awami League has also circulated news clippings and social media posts alleging that BNP leaders and cadres were involved in violence during the July 2024 uprising against Sheikh Hasina, which began as a student-led reform movement before descending into unrest.
Wazed argued that the ban on his party amounted to collective punishment of voters rather than accountability for wrongdoing.
“Unable to defeat the Awami League in a free and fair contest, the state chose to remove it altogether,” he wrote. “Voters are not being punished for crimes or corruption — they are being punished for who they support. Their ballots are rejected before they are even cast.”
“No credible democracy bans its largest political party and still claims legitimacy,” Wazed added. “When a government fears voters more than it trusts elections, democracy doesn’t weaken — it collapses.”
