Major campaign issues Unemployment Unemployment has been a major problem for the
Bangladeshi economy, especially affecting the youth. According to a
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics report, Bangladesh's overall unemployment rate stood at 4.48% in 2024, compared to 4.15% in 2023. In 2024, 87% of the unemployed were educated, and 21% of them were graduates, showing the lack of job growth needed to accommodate the increasing workforce. A 2024 study found that 55% of the Bangladeshi youth wished to leave the country due to the rising unemployment rate. Unemployment was one of the core factors behind the July Revolution of 2024.
Corruption Corruption remains a major national issue. Bangladesh ranked 152nd out of 182 countries in the
Transparency International's
Corruption Perception Index in 2025, slipping from 151 in 2024. The issue of corruption took a central stage in election campaigns.
Extortion Extortion in the country grew unprecedentedly in the
Aftermath of the July Uprising. The parties like BNP and NCP (along with its affiliates
Students Against Discrimination,
Jatiya Nagorik Committee and
Jatiya Chhatra Shakti) faced heavy criticism for involvement with extortion. The BNP particularly faced backlash for its leaders' involvement in extortion scandals.
Proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) emerged as a key issue among political parties in the election campaigns. The existing
first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system has been criticised as disproportional and a key driver of political deadlock in the country. A
Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik opinion poll conducted on 1,373 person between May and July 2025 found that 71% people in the country support PR in the proposed upper house of the Jatiya Sangsad.
Eight parties led by Jamaat-e-Islami organized mass demonstrations in Dhaka in support of PR on 11 November 2025. Its leaders also warned that the general election not to take place before a referendum on the July Charter.
Youth voters Nearly 56 million of the 127 million registered voters are aged between 18 and 37, constitute about 44 percent of the electorate, many of them belong to
Generation Z, the main demographic contributor to the July Revolution. Due to three previously one-sided elections, this election is expected to be the first competitive election to the cohort. According to the
Al Jazeera, these young voters are unified "less by ideology than by a shared suspicion of institutions, which, for most of their adult lives, have failed to represent them". The youth vote bank have been a focal point of party campaigns, and is widely considered to be the turning factor in the election.
Hindu and Awami League voters Many
Hindus voted for the Awami League in the previous general elections. Due to absence of the party in the 2026 election, parties such as the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami actively conducted programmes to attract the Hindu voters. BBC Bangla reported that the BNP maintains a stronghold amongst the Hindu voters, Two leaders of the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad were nominated from the BNP. On the other side, Jamaat-e-Islami established committees including minorities and nominated a Hindu candidate. The CPB fielded 17 minority candidates in the election, which is the highest among the competing parties. Besides, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami have taken strategies to attract former voters of the Awami League and its allies, which include among other things recruiting former AL politicians and promising legal protections. Although according to
University of Dhaka professor Asif Shahan, though the "core loyalists" might abstain, the "locally focused" former AL voters will vote and may become a decisive factor in the election. Some surveys in January 2026 indicated that nearly half of the former AL voters switched their support to the BNP, followed by the Jamaat-e-Islami. According to the Communication & Research Foundation and Bangladesh Election and Public Opinion Studies, these "patterns suggest that former Awami League voters are not dispersing evenly across the party system or withdrawing from partisan preferences, but are instead consolidating their support around specific opposition alternatives".
Party campaigns and preparations Bangladesh Nationalist Party The BNP's primary candidate-selection started in late September 2025. The party sources reported that the candidates in approximately 200 seats were finalized by mid–October. However, the party was facing difficulties to determine candidates for 60–70 seats in due to internal conflicts and multiple strong candidates. The BNP announced their candidacy list for 237 constituencies on 3 November 2025. Its incumbent chairperson and former
prime minister of Bangladesh,
Khaleda Zia, would compete from three constituencies; however, serious dissatisfaction arose over the nomination in more than 40 seats, leading to frequent protests by the supporters of several nomination seekers. Party leaders feared that this might weaken the party unity in several electorates. In the second phase, the BNP unveiled a candidacy list for 36 seats, including seats of many leaders of the allied parties, alienating the allied parties, which even led to the conclusion of
Bangladesh Labour Party 18-year-long alignment with the party, while two allied parties, the
Liberal Democratic Party and the
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Rab), declared contesting in the election independently. On the other hand, the Bangladesh Liberal Democratic Party and the Bangladesh Jatiya Dal merged with the BNP. Between 23 and 24 December, BNP announced 14 conceded seats for the allied parties, including the
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh,
Islami Oikya Jote,
Jatiya Party (Zafar),
Gono Odhikar Parishad,
Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh,
Ganosanhati Andolan,
Nagorik Oikko,
Nationalist Democratic Movement, and the
National People's Party. On the other side,
Bobby Hajjaj, leader of the NDM,
Redwan Ahmed, secretary-general of the LDP, and Md. Rashed Khan, general secretary of the GOP have joined in BNP. On 28 January 2026, Nagorik Oikko pulled out of the BNP-led alliance. Due to the failure to secure nomination, many politicians who sought the BNP nomination contested the election as
independent candidates, who have been identified as "rebel" candidates by the party. According to a report in
Prothom Alo, efforts are being made from the top levels of the party to convince them, and action has been announced against them if they do not comply. Some leaders, including
Rumeen Farhana, had already been expelled from the party because of this.
Tarique Rahman, the acting chairman of the BNP, returned to Bangladesh on 25 December 2025, after 17 years in exile. BBC Bangla reported that the BNP's electoral campaign would revolve around the personality of Tarique. However, experts think that it may create challenges for the BNP due to his controversial legacy involving the
Hawa Bhaban and corruption. Additionally, during his campaign speeches, many irregularities and factual inaccuracies were detected. Opposition have also accused him of making several pledges that have already been implemented. The party is seeking to position itself as centrist and liberal. Some of its recent rhetoric explicitly acknowledged the preservation of the legacy of the
Liberation War. The BNP unveiled their manifesto on 6 February 2026. The manifesto outlined 51 points within nine commitments stated to be based on the 19-point programme (1978), the Vision-2030 (2015) and the 31-point programme (2022) of the party and the
July Charter — Family Card, Farmer Card, recruitment of 100,000 healthcare workers predominantly women, educational reform, meals in the primary schools, employment and youth skill development, 250 million tree plantation and canalling, listing of the victims of the
1971 Bangladesh genocide and the
July massacre, and religious harmony and digitalization of economy. Other key aspects include reinstatement of "faith and trust in Allah" to the
constitution, reforms in the
Article 70, establishment of ten-year term limits for the prime minister, creation of a trillion-dollar economy by 2034, increasing
foreign direct investment to 2.5% of GDP, expansion of power generation capacity up to 35,000 MW by 2030, achievement of tax-to-GDP ratio up to 15%, establishment of "Truth and Heeling Commission", anti-corruption, women empowerment, honourium for
imams,
muezzins,
khatibs,
pandits and other religious leaders, and waiver of agricultural loans up to 10,000 taka. For the first time since the
1991 Bangladeshi general election, the BNP decided to participate the elections on its own, without being in a formal or informal alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami. The BNP general secretary
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir confirmed the conclusion of its alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami in August 2025. Political analyst Faisal Mahmud suggested that the split may be driven by the BNP's attempt to "appropriate the moral vocabulary of secular nationalism" in order to occupy the "void" left by the AL. According to him, the split can reshape Bangladesh's future political landscape "dramatically". The BNP's internal discipline was repeatedly questioned. A report from the
Transparency International Bangladesh found that the party leaders and activists were behind 91% of the political violence since the fall of the Awami League on 5 August 2024. Jamaat-e-Islami also tried to unify these parties into an electoral alliance, On 28 December 2025, Jamaat-e-Islami announced an electoral alliance with the Liberal Democratic Party and the National Citizen Party. The Bangladesh Labour Party also joined the alliance on 24 January 2025. On the other hand,
Islami Andolan Bangladesh, a founding member of alliance, left the alliance after failing to compromise seats.
Prothom Alo also reported that approximately 80% candidates of the Jamaat-e-Islami's primary nomination list are new, who have no pior experience of contesting a general election. The party sources say that it is an attempt to bring young leadership to the forefront. The Jamaat-e-Islami is trying to position itself as the "vanguard of the July Uprising" and a "viable alternative to established political parties, such as Awami League and BNP", both of which have controversial records in governance. The
BBC reported that many younger voters separate the contemporary form of the party from its history and do not consider its 1971 stance as a "red line". According to professor Tawfique Haque of
North South University, the Gen Z do not want to be "bogged with this debate", considering the party a "fellow victim of Hasina's rule". Jamaat-e-Islami's campaign promises heavily concentrated on interest-free loans and tax cuts. The party pledged to introduce "smart social security card", which would bring all the government services under a single umbrella. The party also promised to train 10 million youth and to develop 1.5 million entrepreneurs and 500,000 million freelancers within five years. Other pledges include interest-free student loans, extensive consumer tax cuts, freezing industrial utility tariffs for three years, reopening closed factories under combined public and private ownership with 10% allocation for the workers, and free healthcare for the older citizens and children. Although not included in the manifesto, its emir (president)
Shafiqur Rahman promised to reduce female working hours in the ceremony, a move for which he was previously criticized, which he clarified to be executed after the maternity leave with the "consent of mothers". The party's resurgence prompted debate over whether the country is ready to be governed by an Islamist party. Some fear it could seek to enforce
sharia or try to restrict women's rights and freedoms. According to
The Washington Post, the US has expanded engagement with the Jamaat-e-Islami. In a leaked recording, an American diplomat reportedly said that the US does not believe that the party is able to implement Sharia, and if they attempt to act with regards to the US, then the US "would have 100 percent tariffs put on them the next day".
National Citizen Party The NCP published their "Manifesto of New Bangladesh" on 3 August 2025 at
Central Shaheed Minar, Dhaka. Although not a formal electoral manifesto, it outlined their party policies and agenda if they form a government. The manifesto promises a new constitution, state recognition of the July Uprising and July massacre, minimization of the role of black money in politics, introduction of "
whistleblower protection law" and "Village Parliament", dissolution of the
Rapid Action Battalion, introduction of
universal healthcare, increased state funding on
STEM education,
artificial intelligence and
biotechnology research, increase of reserved-for-women seats in the Jatiya Sangsad to 100, recognition of houseworks in the
GDP, establishment of a "Permanent Labor Commission",
green technology, strong foreign and defence policy and bilateral solutions to the issues like
deaths along the Bangladesh–India border, water sharing of transboundary rivers and
Rohingya refugee crisis. The NCP's campaign concentrated on the constituent assembly election and the new constitution, which was decided in a party meeting on 13–14 August. Their unofficial slogans include "This time people, want constituent assembly election" and "Solution to Bangladesh, a new constitution". The NCP became the first party to issue nomination forms from 6 November 2025. Notably, they kept 80% discounts for labour-peasants and injured protesters of the July Uprising. The party interviewed more than 1,000 nomination seekers among ordinary citizens nationwide over two days in November. Its leaders moved from booth to booth for suitable candidates. According to the
Daily Jugantor, approximately 60% candidates primarily nominated by the NCP were non-NCP members. The party declared their primary candidacy list for 125 seats on 10 December 2025, including the seats of major leaders. AB Party chairman Mojibur Rahman Monju hinted a possible alliance consisting of the NCP, his party, the
Gono Odhikar Parishad and the 6 member parties of the
Ganatantra Manch alliance in October 2025. The NCP, GOP, AB Party, Rastro Songskar Andolan,
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Rab), and United People's Bangladesh expressed interest to join the alliance. However, the NCP's opposition to the inclusion of UP Bangladesh, a splinter faction of the party, and GOP's internal disputes hampered the formation of the alliance. On 7 December 2025, "Democratic Reform Alliance" was established consisting the NCP, the AB Party, and the Rastro Songskar Andolan. The NCP leader
Nahid Islam described it as "not only an electoral alliance – but also a political alliance". Initially, Jamaat-e-Islami and NCP, close and supportive on the issues related to constitutional and electoral reforms, had differed on electoral activities. NCP was seen as uninterested to form an electoral alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami and other Islamist parties. According to BBC Bangla, the faction of
leftist politicians of NCP were pressuring the party leadership for this. From late December, NCP's alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami suddenly reemerged, creating significant discussion. On 28 December, Jamaat-e-Islami confirmed its
electoral alliance with the NCP. while former
adviser Mahfuj Alam, who had previously expressed interest of joining the NCP, retracted from the decision. Khandakar Tahmid Rejwan, lecturer at the
Independent University, Bangladesh, said:
Jatiya Party (Ershad) Since
Hussain Muhammad Ershad's lifetime, the Jatiya Party had been divided into three factions — the Quader faction (led by
Ghulam Muhammad Quader), the Raushan faction (led by
Raushan Ershad), and the Anisul faction (led by
Anisul Islam Mahmud). According to the
Daily Manab Zamin significant dispute is ongoing among these factions over the party's electoral symbol
plough. Each faction wants the symbol over their own nominated candidates. On 8 December 2025,
National Democratic Front, led by the Anisul faction and the
Jatiya Party (Manju), was launched including 18 parties. On 23 December, the alliance declared candidates for 119 constituencies on 23 December, including the seats of top leaders of the member parties. On the other side, the Quader faction declared their final candidacy list on 26 December. The party's campaign was limited to field meetings, leaflet distributions and mass processions, and included no major rally. Many of its leaders claimed to have been threatened and mared of campaigning freely. The party is campaigning for a "no" vote for the referendum and trying to secure the Awami League and minority votes. Its leaders believe that if AL supporters turn out at voting centres, only then the JP(E) will be able to meet its expectations and to maintain its historic stronghold in the
Rangpur region.
Communist Party of Bangladesh The
Daily Ittefaq reported that the CPB-led
Left Democratic Alliance was creating a convention of
progressive parties under the
united front strategy, which was expected to establish by November 2025. They have reportedly contacted with
Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Antifascist Left Front,
Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti and Democratic Cultural Unity for this. On 29 November 2025,
Democratic United Front (DUF) was announced at a national coalition, jointly organised by the CPB-led
Left Democratic Alliance and the BJSD. The convention adopted a seven‑point political proposal outlining the coalition's ideological commitments and electoral strategy. Leaders called for uniting left‑wing, progressive, democratic, and "pro–
Liberation War forces". The DUF declared their electoral manifesto on 23 January 2026, where emphasis were placed on the freedom of speech and expression, literary, cultural and democratic ambitions, development of youth power, and reorganization of educational system. On the other hand, the CPB separately declared their manifesto on 3 February. Titled "electoral manifesto of changing the system", it outlines 18 points of pledges that follow: democratic reconstruction, rule of law, anti-corruption, "genuine" local governance, decentralization, electoral reform, restoration of voting rights, reduction of inequality, prevention of inflation and price hikes, employment, poverty alleviation, educational reform, "people-oriented" healthcare services reform, agricultural reform, rural development, workers' and women's rights, youth development, reform in transport and communication infrastructures, environmental protection, addressing the challenges of
climate change, "people-oriented" reform in science, technology and research, right to media and information, freedom of expression, development of literal, cultural and progressive social consciousness and establishment of foreign policy based on
world peace. == Opinion polls ==