Shafiqur Rahman, the chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami get together, speaks throughout a Jamaat-led alliance rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Feb. 8.
Sajjad Hussain/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
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Sajjad Hussain/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
DHAKA, Bangladesh – An Islamist get together has turn into Bangladesh’s essential opposition for the primary time within the nation’s historical past, difficult the previous dynastic political system regardless of persistent considerations amongst critics in regards to the get together’s insurance policies on girls.
Jamaat-e-Islami’s 11-party alliance gained 77 of 300 seats in final week’s polls, in accordance with last outcomes introduced by the nation’s election fee on Sunday. Of these, Jamaat gained 68, a file excessive. It had by no means earlier than gained greater than 18 seats. The scholar-led Nationwide Citizen Get together (NCP) gained six and the rest went to minor events.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Get together (BNP) gained a landslide 212 seats, giving it the two-thirds majority and setting Tarique Rahman, who hails from a strong political household, heading in the right direction to turn into prime minister. Developments in Bangladesh are being intently watched past its borders. It’s the world’s eighth-most populous nation and second-largest garment exporter after China, supplying main manufacturers to Europe and the US – a place the BNP will likely be eager to guard.
The nation’s different main get together, the Awami League, was banned from collaborating within the polls. Its chief, former autocratic prime minister Sheikh Hasina, fled the nation after the lethal 2024 student-led rebellion that toppled her authorities and paved the best way for this vote.
Individuals provide Friday prayers on a highway exterior a mosque a day after the nationwide parliamentary election in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026.
Anupam Nath/AP
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Anupam Nath/AP
Jamaat-e-Islami’s chief, Shafiqur Rahman, who just isn’t associated to the BNP’s Tarique Rahman, initially claimed there had been irregularities throughout voting. He later conceded defeat and mentioned in a press release: “We recognize the overall outcome and we respect the rule of law. We will serve as a vigilant, principled, and peaceful opposition, holding the government to account.”
A shocking consequence after many years on the periphery
Jamaat’s consequence has come as a shock to many, partly as a result of the get together opposed Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 and sided with Pakistan throughout the conflict.
On the time, its leaders had been accused of committing widespread atrocities, together with rape, torture and homicide — accusations the get together has persistently rejected.
A few of its senior members had been tried and located responsible of these crimes in a specifically shaped courtroom from 2010 to 2013, when the Awami League was in energy. Some got dying sentences, whereas others acquired life imprisonment. Jamaat maintains that the trials had been politically motivated.
The get together was additionally banned at numerous occasions, most not too long ago by the Awami League in 2023. The ban was lifted following the 2024 rebellion, permitting Jamaat to reemerge as a significant electoral contender.
“Many voters are young, and they don’t like to live in the past. They want to build their future. Jamaat has been saying things that seem more practical and achievable,” Maimul Ahsan Khan, a retired legislation professor of legislation at Dhaka College, advised NPR.
Nonetheless, he added, “I think Jamaat would have got even more seats if it did not have the past baggage of affinity to Pakistan and 1971.”
Ladies queue as much as solid their vote at a polling station throughout Bangladesh’s nationwide parliamentary election, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026.
Mahmud Hossain Opu/AP
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Mahmud Hossain Opu/AP
Observers say the consequence might mark simply step one for Jamaat in rebuilding its political affect.
“With 77 seats, we have nearly quadrupled our parliamentary presence and become one of the strongest opposition blocs in modern Bangladeshi politics. That is not a setback. That is a foundation,” mentioned Shafiqur Rahman.
Civil rights considerations
Whereas greater than 90 % of Bangladesh’s inhabitants is Muslim, its political system ensures equal rights for minority religions.
Though Jamaat has Sharia — or Islamic — legislation enshrined in its structure, it has not too long ago softened its public picture, taking a extra reasonable tone on faith and saying it’ll respect Bangladesh’s political system.
It fielded one Hindu candidate throughout the election however no girls, and Shafiqur Rahman has publicly mentioned no girl can lead the get together.
Nonetheless, Jon Danilowicz, an unbiased political analyst and retired former diplomat who served in Bangladesh, advised NPR that violence in opposition to minority teams in Bangladesh has a protracted historical past and is usually pushed by components apart from ideology alone.
“Often it’s driven by economics and other issues,” he says, and minority teams have “been equally victimized by the BNP and Awami League.”
Danilowicz says that regarding the get together’s therapy of ladies, “they frame it as protection and safety and in terms of family and preserving the role of women within a family structure.”
Jamaat’s first exams are to exhibit that it could maintain the brand new authorities accountable and to implement the July Nationwide Constitution — a set of reforms to forestall a return to autocracy — which may assist to reassure tens of millions of Bangladeshis who nonetheless mistrust the get together.
