Election will be held on schedule, Chief Adviser tells US envoy

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday reaffirmed his resolve to hold the general election on 12 February.

“The nation is eagerly waiting to exercise its voting rights, which were taken away by the autocratic regime,” he said.

Prof Yunus made the comments during a telephone conversation with Sergio Gor, the US special envoy for South and Central Asia, at around 7:30pm Bangladesh time.

The roughly half-hour discussion covered trade and tariff negotiations between Bangladesh and the United States, the forthcoming parliamentary elections, the country’s democratic transition, and the killing of young Bangladeshi political activist Sharif Osman Hadi.

Sergio Gor, who also serves as the US ambassador to India, congratulated Prof Yunus on his leadership during the recent tariff talks, noting Bangladesh’s success in bringing down US reciprocal tariffs on Bangladeshi goods to 20 percent.

The US envoy also referred to the massive funeral of Shaheed Osman Hadi.

The chief adviser said supporters of the ousted autocratic regime were allegedly spending millions of dollars to derail the electoral process, while their fugitive leader was inciting violence.

However, Prof Yunus said the interim government was “fully prepared” to face any challenges. “We have roughly 50 days to go before the election. We want to hold a free, fair and peaceful election, and we want to make it remarkable,” he added.

Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin, National Security Adviser Khalilur Rahman, and SDG Coordinator and Senior Secretary Lamiya Morshed were present during the call.