Chief Adviser of the interim government Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus has said the Bangladesh general elections will be held between December 2025 and March 2026, depending on how quickly his government can institute reforms believing necessary for free and fair polls. "If reforms can be done as quickly as we wish, then December would be the time that we would hold elections. If you have a longer version of reforms, then we may need a few more months," he told BBC in a recent interview.
About his assumption of the office of Bangladesh's interim government, he said he felt "dazzled" when asked to take charge after long-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina was driven out of power last year. "I had no idea I'd be leading the government," Prof Yunus said.
He said restoring law and order and fixing the economy were priorities for the country.
It's unclear if Hasina, who fled into exile in India, and her party will participate in elections Prof Yunus hopes to hold later this year. She is wanted in Bangladesh for alleged crimes against humanity, read a BBC report released on Thursday.
"They (the Awami League) have to decide if they want to do it, I cannot decide for them," said Yunus in his interview with the BBC at his official residence in Dhaka. "The election commission decides who participates in the election," he said.
He added: "Peace and order is the most important thing, and the economy. It's a shattered economy, a devastated economy" "It's as if there's been some terrible tornado for 16 years and we're trying to pick up the pieces," he continued.
Sheikh Hasina was elected prime minister in 2009 and members of her Awami League government ruthlessly cracked down on dissent. There were widespread allegations of human rights violations and the murder and jailing of political rivals while she was prime minister.
A student-led uprising toppled Sheikh Hasina from office in August. At the behest of protesters, Prof Yunus came back to Bangladesh to lead the new interim government.
"We are coming from complete disorder," the chief adviser said, referring to the violent protests that engulfed Bangladesh last summer. "People getting shot, killed," he said.
But almost seven months on, people in Dhaka say law and order has not yet been restored, and that things are not getting better, the BBC report said.
"Better is a relative term," Prof Yunus said. "If you are comparing it to the last year for example at the same time, it looks okay," he added.
"What is happening right now, is no different than any other time," he also said.
Prof Yunus blamed many of Bangladesh's current woes on the previous government.
Victims of Sheikh Hasina's brutal regime remain angry. Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in recent months, demanding she be prosecuted for the deadly crackdown on student protesters.
A court in Bangladesh has issued a warrant for her arrest, but India has yet to respond.
When asked by the BBC about claims by members of the Awami League that Bangladesh is not safe for them, Prof Yunus was quick to defend his government.
"There's a court, there's a law, there's a police station, they can go and complain, register their complaint," he said. "You just don't go to a BBC correspondent to complain, you go to the police station to complain and see whether the law is taking its course."
The Trump administration's decision to cut foreign aid and effectively end almost all programmes funded by the US Agency for International Development will have an impact on countries like Bangladesh.
"It is their decision," Prof Yunus said. "It's been helpful. Because they are doing things that we wanted to get done, like fighting corruption and things like that, which we couldn't afford right away," he said.
The United States is the third largest supplier of official development assistance to Bangladesh. Last year the US committed $450m in foreign aid.
When asked how it will make up the shortfall, the Bangladesh chief adviser said, "When it happens, we will make do."
