The Foreword
Dispatch from historic elections in Bangladesh
(DHAKA, February 24, 2026)—The streets of Dhaka were unusually quiet on election day. Many voters had returned to their constituencies to cast their ballots. After months of intense political debate, and a year and a half after a student-led uprising toppled a government once thought immovable, Bangladeshis lined up to vote.
As a government-invited official election monitor, our team at Fortify Rights drove across the capital from early morning until dusk, visiting polling stations throughout the city. The atmosphere was orderly and festive. Voters moved in and out of schools, community centers, and madrasas, dipping their fingers in ink to cast their votes.
Behind the wheel was our driver, who asked that we use only his first name, Mukul. He was soft-spoken and humble, calm in traffic and patient at security checkpoints. He was also politically aware and deeply engaged, with a clear understanding of Bangladesh’s shifting political landscape and an active role in the movement for change.
As we navigated the city, Mukul shared his story.
He had been on the frontlines of the uprising that ultimately led to the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. When protests erupted over discrimination, corruption, and repression, he joined thousands demanding change. During one demonstration, he helped carry a young man who had been shot during the violence to a nearby hospital, but the man later died from his injuries. He still remembers the weight of him in his arms and the sound of gunfire on the street.
His story is like that of many during the protests. Fortify Rights investigated the protest-related violence, finding Bangladesh security forces and members of the then-ruling Awami League responsible for serious human rights violations, including protest-related killings.
Mukul told us that for years he had supported the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). His wife, he said with a smile, was loyal to Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamic party and now the BNP’s main opposition. Their household, like many across Bangladesh, was a mix of views.
“They [BNP] were the main opposition. They were the alternative to the brutal Hasina regime,” he said about the 15 years Hasina was in power.
That alternative is now in power and was sworn into office this month.
The election marked a decisive victory for the BNP, returning it to government after years in opposition and exile. For many voters like Mukul, the vote was not simply about party loyalty, it was about reclaiming rights after years of repression under the Awami League government, which committed widespread abuses against political opponents, including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
But elections are only the beginning.
The uprising in 2024—widely known as the Monsoon Revolution—led to Hasina’s departure and was fueled by anger over corruption, inequality, and impunity. The cost was high. The Revolution was deadly, claiming more than 1,400 people’s lives, according to a U.N. Fact Finding Mission on Bangladesh.
The calm streets of Dhaka on election day this month reflected hope, but also restraint. Bangladeshis understand that a peaceful vote does not automatically guarantee a rights-respecting government. The BNP now has an opportunity, and an obligation, to break with the past.
That means ensuring accountability for human rights violations committed during the uprising and in the years leading up to it. It means strengthening judicial independence, protecting journalists and civil society, and ending the use of security forces as political instruments. It means placing human rights at the center of governance.
As we concluded our election monitoring and drove back through the city, Mukul grew quiet. His eyes welled as he described attending the funeral of Khaleda Zia, the former prime minister of the BNP and mother of the current prime minister, Tarique Rahman. Her death symbolized the end of an era of opposition and the beginning of a new chapter for the BNP.
Mukul had risked his life. He had voted for change. Now he was watching to see whether that change would be real. His story reflects that of many others across Bangladesh.
For the sake of those like Mukul who carried the wounded, those who lost loved ones, and those who lined up peacefully to vote, the BNP government must choose the right path: accountability, reform, and equal rights for all.
John Quinley is a Director at Fortify Rights. Follow him on X: @john_hq3