A political message that reads, “To regain the right to vote, the state must be reformed” by artist and author Debashish Chakrabarty. Used with permission. See more of his work here. General elections are scheduled to be held in Bangladesh on January 7, 2024, to elect 300 members for the 12th Jatiyo Sangshad (unicameral Parliament). There are nearly 120 million eligible voters in the nation of over 171 million people, and almost half of them are women, and 15 million are first-time voters. Approximately 1,970 candidates are contending for the 299 seats, and over 4.5 percent of them are women. Elections in one constituency (Naogaon-2) have been withheld due to the death of an independent candidate. However, one thing is missing in this election. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), a major opposition party, and some of its allies are boycotting this election and withholding their candidacies, declaring it a “sham election.” They have long been campaigning for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and calling to hold the election under a neutral caretaker government, expressing doubts that free and fair elections may not be achievable under the current government. The incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has rejected the opposition's demand and the ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) is expected to win this election for the consecutive fourth term without the participation of major opposition parties. The ruling party leaders claim that the elections will be representative and participatory, as 28 out of 44 registered parties are running in the elections. However, the opposition has claimed that AL is fielding dummy candidates and threatening people to appear at vote centres. Similar to other prominent parties in South Asia, the two major political parties in Bangladesh — AL and BNP — follow a dynastic leadership structure. The decision-making and leadership selection remain mostly ‘family affairs‘ rather than practising internal democracy. The current Prime Minister and President of Awami League (AL), Sheikh Hasina Wazed, is the daughter of Bangladesh’s founding father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was assassinated in August 1975. There are many speculations but no apparent plan to groom her successor. Leading the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is Tarique Rahman, the Acting Chairperson and son of the ailing former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the BNP, Begum Khaeda Zia and the late former army chief and President Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated in 1981. Tarique Rahman has been in exile since 2008, and he has been convicted in numerous corruption cases, and the 2004 assassination attempt against Sheikh Hasina while the BNP was in power. According to a leaked US Embassy cable from 2008, Tarique is a “notorious and widely feared … symbol of kleptocratic government” who frequently demanded bribes in return for procurement decisions and political appointments and his leadership is deemed one of the weak points of the BNP. The current parliamentary system, adopted in 1991, followed a period of military rule in Bangladesh from 1975–1990. To negate the power abuse by the ruling party, an interim caretaker government system was established, involving a non-partisan, technocratic administration overseeing the elections. Between 1991–2008, four elections were conducted under this system, with power alternating between the two major parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Awami League (AL). The overwhelming election win of the Awami League and allies in 2008 saw them accumulating 263 seats out of 300, enabling them to abolish the caretaker system in 2011 through the 15th amendment of the constitution. The 2014 elections were marred by violence as the BNP and its allies — including the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party — protested and boycotted the election. Among the 300 seats, the Awami League secured victory in 234, and its candidates ran unopposed in 153 instances. In the 2018 general election, the BNP agreed to participate peacefully with assurances of a level playing field. Twenty-five contestants of the Jamaat-e-Islami party also contested under BNP’s name as their registration was cancelled by a court. However, the BNP and its allies struggled to regain popular support, as many of its leaders and activists were either in hiding or incarcerated. Despite evident state bias against the party, there was a lack of significant public sympathy for the BNP during the campaign and on election day. In the 2018 elections, the Awami League (AL) and its grand alliance secured a third term with 257 seats, marking another overwhelming majority. However, the opposition rejected the results, and critics said the election was poorly managed and riddled with irregularities.