{"id":42548,"date":"2026-02-17T18:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=42548"},"modified":"2026-02-17T18:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:40:07","slug":"bangladeshs-new-pm-tarique-rahman-takes-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/bangladeshs-new-pm-tarique-rahman-takes-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangladesh’s new PM Tarique Rahman takes power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was sworn into office on Tuesday to lead the first elected government since a deadly 2024 uprising, facing a daunting list of challenges.<\/p>\n

Top of the list for 60-year-old Rahman will be to improving security, healing rifts in a country polarised by years of bitter rivalry, and tackling the economic woes of the world’s second-largest garment exporter.<\/p>\n

Rahman takes over from the interim government that has steered the country of 170 million people for 18 months since the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina was overthrown.<\/p>\n

“I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of prime minister of the government, in accordance with the law,” he said, sworn in by President Mohammed Shahabuddin, in a ceremony held outside the parliament building, and broadcast on state television.<\/p>\n

Rahman, chief of the BNP and scion of one of the country’s most powerful political dynasties, won a landslide victory in the February 12 elections.<\/p>\n

“This victory belongs to Bangladesh, belongs to democracy,” Rahman said in his victory speech on Saturday.<\/p>\n

“This victory belongs to people who aspire to and have sacrificed for democracy.”<\/p>\n

The new leader has pledged to restore stability and revive growth after months of turmoil that rattled investor confidence in the world’s second-largest garment exporter.<\/p>\n

He has also called for all parties to “remain united” in a country polarised by years of bitter rivalry.<\/p>\n

“We are about to begin our journey in a situation marked by a fragile economy left behind by the authoritarian regime, weakened constitutional and statutory institutions, and a deteriorating law and order situation,” he added in his victory speech.<\/p>\n

After Rahman was sworn in, his ministers then lined up to take their oath of office.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers, who all promised loyalty to Bangladesh, were earlier sworn in to parliament by the Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, before the BNP members chose Rahman as their leader.<\/p>\n

– ‘Peaceful opposition’ –<\/p>\n

Rahman’s win marks a remarkable turnaround for a man who only returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in exile in Britain, far from Dhaka’s political storms.<\/p>\n

The BNP coalition won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance.<\/p>\n

Jamaat, which secured more than a quarter of seats in parliament — a four-fold increase on its previous best — has challenged results in 32 constituencies.<\/p>\n

But Jamaat leader Shafiqur Rahman, 67, has also said the Islamist party would “serve as a vigilant, principled, and peaceful opposition”.<\/p>\n

Hasina’s Awami League party was barred from taking part in the elections.<\/p>\n

Hasina, 78, who was sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity, issued a statement from hiding in India decrying an “illegal” election.<\/p>\n

But India praised the BNP’s “decisive win” — a notable shift after deeply strained ties.<\/p>\n

Only seven women were directly elected, although a further 50 seats reserved for women will be allocated to parties according to their share of the vote.<\/p>\n

Four members of minority communities won seats, including two Hindus — a population that makes up roughly seven percent in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

Despite weeks of turbulence ahead of the polls, voting day passed without major unrest and the country has so far responded to the results with relative calm.<\/p>\n

“If the BNP can do a good job with the economy, it will make everything else easier for the government,” Crisis Group analyst Thomas Kean said.<\/p>\n

“It will help to create a level of stability, to tackle the many other challenges beyond the economy.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was sworn into office on Tuesday to lead the first elected government since a deadly 2024 uprising, facing a daunting list of challenges. Top of the list for 60-year-old Rahman will be to improving security, healing rifts in a country polarised by years of bitter rivalry, and tackling the economic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42548"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42551,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42548\/revisions\/42551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}