On August 20, for only the second time in our history, parliamentarians will have the opportunity to elect the president of the republic. If the ruling party sticks to its decision not to allow its MPs to vote freely, however, the entire exercise is poised to be anything but an election. It could instead be described as the beginning of the new president’s coronation. Like the first presidential vote 35 years ago, this one too follows another pro-democracy uprising. The first uprising forced out the military dictator, General HM Ershad; the second overthrew the civilian but increasingly dictatorial regime of Sheikh Hasina. In between these upheavals, we had seven presidential elections, all won unopposed by nominees of the then ruling parties. Interestingly, in both post-uprising parliaments, BNP would play a decisive role in determining the country’s democratic future. The second mass uprising, known as the July Uprising, was, in many ways, a very different political upheaval. It ...

The 13th Jatiya Sangsad , which goes into its maiden session today, is in many ways a first for the country. Installed through a historic transition following an uprising that toppled the longest-running autocracy in Bangladesh, it brings about a generational shift in the political guard. Both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, each in their sixties, are first-time parliamentarians. Two-thirds of the newly elected MPs, responsible for shaping the nation’s future, are also first-timers. In fact, a majority of MPs from both the ruling party and the opposition are newcomers to parliamentary affairs. In a sense, this is a credit to the youthquake of 2024, which has infused fresh blood into Bangladesh’s parliamentary democracy. The entry of six parliamentarians from the year-old National Citizen Party (NCP) is also significant, as its leadership is entirely a product of the student-led uprising. There has been debate about the party’s electoral alliance with ...