By SM Najmus Sakib
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said it would form a new government by Sunday, after winning the first elections since July 2024 uprising that ousted the government of longtime rival Awami League.
"It will be the BNP’s government. The government will be formed by Feb. 15. The BNP will go to parliament with all parties," the party’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told reporters on Friday while visiting his constituency in the north-western Thakurgaon district.
“The issues that BNP signed in the July Charter on reforms will be implemented step by step,” he added.
BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman is likely the party's prime ministerial candidate. He became the party head after the death of his mother and Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, Khaleda Zia, in December.
According to the Constitution, a party needs 151 seats in the 300-seat parliament to form a government. The BNP alone secured 209 seats in Thursday's vote. Its main competitor, the bloc led by Jamaat-e-Islami, won 77 seats.