On revolution anniversary, Bangladesh’s Yunus announces national elections

Interim leader says first national polls since overthrow of Sheikh Hasina to be held in February.

Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, has unveiled a roadmap of democratic reforms as the nation marks a year since a mass uprising toppled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Rallies, concerts and prayer sessions were held in the capital, Dhaka, on Tuesday as people in the South Asian nation celebrated what many called the country’s “second liberation” after its independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The anniversary culminated with Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate presiding over Bangladesh’s democratic overhaul, announcing that he would write to the chief election commissioner requesting that national elections be arranged before Ramadan in February.

“We will step into the final and most important phase after delivering this speech to you, and that is the transfer of power to an elected government,” he said.

Yunus had previously said elections would be held in April, but key political parties have been demanding he hold them earlier and before the Islamic holy month in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people.