After revolutionary protests that kicked out an autocratic government, Bangladeshi voters have chosen to roll with a familiar face.
What happened: The centrist Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) scored a decisive victory in the country’s first federal election since the protests that ousted the previous government in 2024, and first competitive national election since 2008. The BNP has been in power three times before and is led by Tarique Rahman, “the scion of a political dynasty.”
The National Citizen Party, a new youth-led party tied to the protests, finished a distant third after alienating much of its target base by allying with an Islamist party.
Voters also approved the July Charter, a raft of more than 80 proposals meant to expand rights and check political power drafted in response to the protests.
Why it matters: The Bangladeshi uprising was the precursor to a wave of “Gen Z protests” that swept developing nations across the globe last year. The country’s decision to elect a moderate old-guard party promising stability and gradual change rather than roll the dice on a new, untested party could be an early indicator of the direction other countries take post-protests.
This would be in line with research that suggests youth participation in protests, while often leading to a flourishing of liberal democracy, doesn’t automatically equate to young people reaping the benefits of new leadership.
What’s next: Nepal, which toppled its government in September, will vote in March, with nearly one million new voters registered since the protests. We will see if they make like Bangladesh and turn to an old-guard party. They could even re-elect the deposed PM.—QH