TikTok, Facebook, YouTube: Bangladesh’s latest election battlegrounds
Al Jazeera
On-the-ground campaigning kicks off on Thursday, but parties have been locked in online battles for month.
Dhaka, Bangladesh – The fast-paced, rhythm-driven song’s lyrics could come across as commentary about life in rural Bangladesh.
“The days of boat, the sheaf of paddy and the plough have ended; the scales will now build Bangladesh”, the words go.
In reality, though, the song is a political anthem supportive of Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami party that went viral on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok in early November.
It speaks of the symbols of parties that have governed Bangladesh that it argues Bangladeshis now want to reject: The boat is the symbol of the Awami League (AL) of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted by a student-led uprising in August 2024; the sheaf of paddy is the symbol of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP); and the plough, the election symbol of the Jatiya Party, a former ally of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, founded by a military ruler in the 1980s.
The Jamaat’s symbol is scales.
Party leaders vow to hammer Trump on affordability in months ahead, with Venezuela, Greenland their latest cudgels.
US President Donald Trump marks first year back by expanding presidential power and reshaping global relations.
A divide over whether dual citizens should be allowed to contest is threatening Bangladesh’s February elections.
Young people, who make up 44 percent of voters, ousted Hasina. But they’ve never seen a competitive election, until now.
Nordic country dispatches ‘substantial contribution’ of troops to the Arctic territory amid standoff with Washington.
Aid cuts, conflict and economic collapse push millions of Yemenis towards severe hunger in 2026.
Dozens of people wounded in the crash in Cordoba province.
European countries targeted by Trump’s latest tariffs say they are united on ‘upholding our sovereignty’.
Authorities have deployed mobile intensive care units to the crash site near Adamuz, where 25 people are injured.
More than 200,000 people in the Russian-occupied part of Zaporizhia are without power after a Ukrainian strike.
Syria’s army accelerates its campaign, securing key infrastructure and forcing Kurdish-led SDF retreat.
The country’s supreme leader says foreign-backed protests ‘caused massive damage and killed several thousands’.
US president says eight countries to face tariffs over opposition to US control of semi-autonomous Danish territory.