Hasina slams Bangladesh elections as ‘well-planned farce’, demands 'free, fair and inclusive' polls

Sheikh Hasina criticizes Bangladesh's elections as a "farce," demanding free and fair polls under a neutral caretaker government.

Bangladesh’s deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday (February 12, 2026) called the general elections being held by the interim government “a well-planned farce” and demanded holding of “free, fair and inclusive elections under a neutral caretaker government”.

For the first time in 30 years, the boat, the Awami League’s electoral symbol, did not appear on the ballot paper in the election, the first since the ouster of Hasina in massive nationwide protests in August 2024.

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Ms. Hasina, 78, who has been staying in India after she fled Bangladesh, said the elections being held under the interim government of Muhammad Yunus was essentially “a well-planned farce”.

“The people’s voting rights, democratic values, and the spirit of the Constitution were completely disregarded in this deceptive, voterless election conducted without the Awami League,” she wrote on her party’s social media.

“From the evening of 11 February, this farce began with seizure of polling centres, gunfire, vote-buying, distribution of money, stamping of ballots, and agents signing result sheets,” she alleged.