Jamaat-e-Islami now demands election before next Ramadan

The Jamaat-e-Islami is unwilling to wait until June 2026 for the general election, the party’s chief Shafiqur Rahman has said.

He put forward the party's stance to hold the 13th parliamentary election before the next Ramadan, stressing the prospect of monsoon and natural disasters.

The party’s chief held a meeting with Nicole Chulick, the US deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, at the residence of the US Deputy Chief of Mission in Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Shafiqur, who recently met BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the United Kingdom, said: “They [the US delegation] only wanted to know about our stance on the election. We have said that the chief advisor has said the interim government will hold elections within December this year or June next year.

“We want to see if the government is reliable in terms of commitment."

Asked about Jamaat's views on polls, the party's chief said it should end before Ramadan, fearing a threat of not holding the election again due to the chances of rainfalls, storms and natural disasters in June 2026.

"So we want it to happen before that threat, before Ramadan."

“Many Ramadans will come, but the election must happen before the very first of them”, he specified.

Jamaat had differences with its long-time alliance partner the BNP over the election when the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus took over after the Awami League government’s fall on Aug 5 last year.

The BNP has been advocating for prompt national elections and to carry forward the reforms through an elected government amid Jamaat’s focus on state reforms and the Awami League’s trial.

The chief advisor said elections could be held between December and June 2026 depending on the scale of reforms.

The BNP, on the other hand, says the election cannot be held after December in any way.

In that place, the Jamaat chief’s new statement came with a message of change in the party’s previous position on the election as the next Ramadan will fall in mid-February, and the party is seeking elections before that.

The party also told the US delegation that they want the next election to be held in the proportional representation (PR) system, Shafiqur added.

The Jamaat chief met Khaleda on Sunday amid the parties’ seemingly divergent positions on national elections and state reforms.

Several senior figures from both parties confirmed that the meeting took place at the residence of the former prime minster’s eldest son, BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, in London.

Shafiqur returned to Bangladesh on Monday.

The party officials also confirmed that Tarique was present during the meeting between the two leaders.