Polls between December and next March

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus in an interview with BBC published yesterday said the election would be held between December 2025 and March next year, depending on how quickly the government could institute reforms necessary for free and fair elections.

"If reforms can be done as quickly as we wish, then December would be the time that we would hold elections. If you have a longer version of reforms, then we may need a few more months," he said.

During the interview, Yunus admitted feeling "dazzled" when asked to assume leadership following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina.

He stressed that law and order, alongside economic recovery, remain his government's top priorities.

"It is a shattered economy, a devastated economy," he said.

"It feels as if a tornado has hit for the last 16 years, and we are picking up the pieces."

About law and order, Yunus claimed the situation has improved since last year's violent protests. However, many in Dhaka argue that security has not been fully restored.

"Better is a relative term," he said. "Compared to last year, it looks stable. But what is happening now is not vastly different from other times."

Yunus attributed many of Bangladesh's current problems to the previous government.

"I am not supporting that these things should happen. I'm saying that, you have to consider, we are not an ideal country or an ideal city that suddenly we made. It's a continuum of the country that we inherited, a country that's been running for many, many years."

About the Trump administration's decision to cut foreign aid and effectively end almost all programmes funded by the US Agency for International Development, he said, "It is their decision."

"It has been helpful. Because they are doing things that we wanted to get done, like fighting corruption and things like that, which we couldn't afford right away."

Asked how it will make up the shortfall, the chief adviser said,"When it happens, we will make do."