Bangladeshis head to the polls on Thursday, with nearly 128 million people eligible to vote, in a key test of the country’s return to democracy after a popular uprising toppled long-time leader Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.

A recent opinion poll by the Dhaka-based Communication Research Foundation and Bangladesh Elections and Public Opinion Studies found corruption to be voters’ top concern.

Bangladesh has long ranked among the world’s worst performers in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

Both the frontrunning Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its main rival Jamaat-i-Islami, have made tackling graft central to their campaigns, with Jamaat’s anti-corruption image helping fuel its resurgence.

Header image: Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairman and election candidate Tarique Rahman (C) casts his ballot at a polling station during Bangladesh’s general election in Dhaka on February 12, 2026. —AFP