election-watch.eu

Dhaka, 3 February 2026: Election-Watch.EU is engaged in Bangladesh under the AHEAD (Action for a Holistic Electoral Approach for Democracy) Bangladesh project. Funded by the European Union, the project is implemented and coordinated by the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), in partnership with the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD, providing support to political parties), and the national NGO Jaago Foundation (facilitating civic and voter education for women and youth).

The project takes place in the context of Bangladesh’s 13th parliamentary elections scheduled for 12 February 2026, following an 18-month transitional period that started with the August 2024 popular uprising. For the first time in the country’s history, parliamentary elections will be held concurrently with a national constitutional referendum, placing voters before two ballots on the same day. This unprecedented configuration significantly raises the political, legal, and operational stakes of the electoral process and underscores the need for clear safeguards, voter information, and institutional preparedness.

The EPD implements an Electoral Support Facility (ESF) for a diverse group of national election observer organisations, comprising the Alliance for Fair Elections and Democracy (AFED, focussing on long and short term election observation), Odhikar (a national human rights organisation focussing on monitoring electoral violence), B-SCAN (focussing on the electoral participation of persons with disabilities), RUPSA (focussing on national minorities), and the Forum for Women’s Political Rights (FWPR, inter alia monitoring gender-based violence online). Alongside Election-Watch.EU, two further EPD member organisations support the ESF – namely EDGE (providing digital applications for observer reporting and analysis) and Democracy Reporting International (DRI, providing technical guidance for the development of a pilot tool on disinformation monitoring by national partner Digitally Right Limited).  

Election-Watch.EU’s work focuses on electoral integrity, democratic safeguards, and the role of citizen participation in high-risk and transitional political contexts, with a particular emphasis on processes that shape democratic governance beyond election day. The engagement places particular emphasis on electoral and constitutional safeguards, participation and inclusion, political pluralism, and the role of legal and institutional frameworks in democratic decision-making. It also addresses risks linked to political polarisation, contested reform processes, and declining trust in democratic institutions, and provides consolidated recommendations for the next legislative cycle.

As part of this engagement, Election-Watch.EU expert Manuel Wally drafted a working paper on the referendum, analysing it as a pivotal moment in the constitutional and institutional reform process set out in Bangladesh’s July Charter: AHEAD Bangladesh Referendum Working Paper. The paper situates the referendum in historical and international comparison, examines associated risks in fragile or polarised political environments, and discusses perspectives for its operational and political implementation. It reviews international standards and good practices, assesses the conditions under which referendums can enhance democratic legitimacy, and highlights risks of misuse, including majoritarian capture, procedural deficits, and exclusion. The analysis further explores the relevance of referendum mechanisms in contexts such as Bangladesh, where constitutional reform, electoral credibility, and political trust are closely intertwined.

accountability, Bangladesh, Bangladesh 2026 elections, Bangladesh Referendum, Constitutional Referendum, election security, inclusion in elections