Reforms forged after student-led protests get ‘Yes’ vote

The people of Bangladesh have given their backing in a referendum this week to the July National Charter, which was forged in the wake of the student-led mass uprising of 2024 and seeks extensive reforms to strengthen democracy and accountability.

Professor Ali Riaz, special assistant to Chief Adviser and Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus – who ran the interim administration during the transition period leading up to the referendum and simultaneous general election on 12 February – said on 14 February that by voting ‘Yes’ in the referendum, the people of Bangladesh have given a verdict in favour of reform and change.

“Beyond legal considerations, political parties now carry a moral and political responsibility to implement this verdict,” he said at a press conference attended by University World News.

However, in the general election, the National Citizen Party (NCP), which was formed by students and youth who were at the forefront of the uprising, won only six seats, while the alliance it belongs to secured a modest total of 77 seats.

Academics and political analysts said that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which won the election by a landslide with 209 seats – a two-thirds majority in the 300-seat parliament – will need to play a responsible role in the implementation of the charter.

Student-led protests

Although elections are constitutionally held every five years, this 13th national poll came after just 26 months because a student-led uprising ousted the previous regime of then prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.

The spark came on 1 July 2024, when students began protesting against government job quotas. They were met with a harsh and brutal response. In response, the fledgling movement transformed into an all-out anti-government campaign demanding Hasina's resignation. She fled to India on 5 August, when hundreds of thousands of people began marching towards Dhaka.

The United Nations reported that around 1,400 people were killed during those few weeks in July and August.

Yunus assumed leadership of the interim government on 8 August, pledging reforms, justice for the July killings, and a credible election. Since then, the government has repeatedly emphasised that reforms, trials, and an election are its priorities.

The much-promised reforms remained elusive until mid-October 2025, when 25 parties signed the July Charter after months-long negotiations among 30 parties at the National Consensus Commission.

Five parties refused to sign, including the National Citizen Party, which was the natural heir to the July uprising. The NCP, however, signed the charter this week, on 16 February 2026.

The parties reached a consensus on at least 84 issues, culminating in the July Charter – 48 of which pertain directly to constitutional reform.

At its heart, the charter proposes sweeping changes: constitutional amendments, rebalancing executive authority between the president and the prime minister, reinstatement of the caretaker government, guarantee of electoral neutrality, judicial independence, and decentralisation, among others.

The government on 13 November 2025 announced that the national election and the referendum would be held on the same day.

Although 50 parties competed in the 12 February poll, the main contest was between BNP and the 11-party alliance comprising the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party and the National Citizen Party (NCP).

In the referendum a ‘Yes’ vote secured 62.74% support, while the ‘No’ vote obtained 29.32%. The remaining 9.61% were cancelled.

A public verdict

A frontline mass uprising leader and former adviser of the interim government, Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan, a spokesperson of the NCP, said on 13 February that reforms and the implementation of the July Charter should not depend on the goodwill of any single party.

“That is precisely why this referendum was held. The legitimacy of a referendum is considered greater than that of a national election. Therefore, those who are entering parliament carry the responsibility of implementing the public verdict delivered through the referendum. They are obliged to do so,” he said.

He believes that parties themselves have signed the July Charter. “We want to trust that they will implement the public verdict. But if they fail to do so, the people's verdict will be disregarded. In that case, they will lose all legitimacy to represent the people of this country,” he said.

The NCP, which promised an alternative to traditional politics and called for a "Second Republic" with sweeping constitutional and governance reforms, won six seats in its first election out of 30 contested constituencies. All six of its MPs were frontline leaders of the mass uprising.

In December, the NCP joined the alliance with Jamaat, a move that drew sharp criticism, leading to at least 19 resignations from senior leaders.

Al Masud Hasanuzzaman, a professor of government and politics at Jahangirnagar University, told University World News that factionalism disrupted the unity they once had.

“Even so, they managed to win six seats in their very first attempt. If we look at the votes they received, it can be considered a promising start.”

No senior politicians

Political analyst and member of the Electoral Reform Commission Abdul Alim said: "This is a good achievement for a new political party and certainly a positive result.

“The NCP was just born – [it is] less than a year old. It is being led entirely by young people. There are no senior politicians here,” he told University World News.

“With this result, they will be present in parliament, where they can raise their voice. And if, for any reason, the implementation of the July Charter is delayed or faces obstacles, they will be able to protest. This gives them a major opportunity to play a role,” he said.

Professor Sk Tawfique M Haque, director of the South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance at North South University, said the winning of seats by the young MPs from NCP and others “aligns closely” with the aspirations of Bangladesh’s 2024 mass uprising.

“People wanted to see a change from old leadership, to see new faces, to see young people, and also young women in politics, and they work for a change of political culture," he told University World News.

Hasanuzzaman said the future of the NCP will depend on how they navigate politics.

“For now, they have entered alliance politics through electoral agreements. Their role in the broader political process, and especially in parliament, will determine how people view them in the coming years,” he said.