The Awami League, Bangladesh’s oldest political party and the main force behind the country’s 1971 liberation war, has been officially barred from participating in future elections after the Election Commission suspended its registration.

The decision follows a directive from the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who imposed a ban on the party amid ongoing legal proceedings over a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests in 2024 that led to the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

According to the United Nations, up to 1,400 Bangladeshi protesters were killed in July and August 2024 during what it described as a brutal suppression campaign launched by Hasina’s government. The mass unrest, triggered by accusations of authoritarianism and election manipulation, led to Hasina’s removal from office.

Hasina, 77, has since remained in self-imposed exile in India and is wanted in Dhaka on charges of crimes against humanity. She has defied the arrest warrant, and her party has condemned the move as politically motivated.

What started as protests against the government's job quota system has grown into a larger attack on foreign influence, economic stagnation, and authoritarian control.

Administrative move to block political activities

On Monday, Akhter Ahmed, senior secretary of the Bangladesh Election Commission, said the party’s registration was suspended following a formal recommendation from the Home Ministry.

“The Home Ministry has imposed a ban on all sorts of organisational activities of the Bangladesh Awami League and the organisations aligned with it,” Ahmed told reporters. “In continuation of that decision, the Election Commission has decided to suspend the AL’s registration with the commission.”

Without official registration, political parties in Bangladesh are prohibited from participating in elections or conducting public activities such as rallies, conferences, and membership drives.

The commission also issued a directive reinforcing the ban, prohibiting the Awami League and its affiliates from engaging in any political activity until the International Crimes Tribunal concludes its investigation and trial process.

Third ban in party’s history

This is the third time the Awami League has been banned. The first instance occurred in 1971 under Pakistani military ruler Yahya Khan. The second came in 1975, when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s father and Bangladesh’s founding leader, abolished the multiparty system to establish a one-party state.

Now, under Yunus’s transitional government, the party faces its most severe political isolation in decades, further complicated by the ongoing criminal case against its leadership.

Despite the political ban, Yunus has pledged that parliamentary elections will be held “no later than June 2026,” with the possibility of early polls as soon as December 2025.

However, critics and international observers remain cautious, warning that the sidelining of major political players like the Awami League could undermine the legitimacy of the democratic process and create space for prolonged transitional rule.