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A week after Bangladesh’s landmark election, the country has a new prime minister and a long list of expectations. Tarique Rahman’s rise from years in exile to the country’s top job marks the start of a new political chapter following the 2024 uprising and a decisive vote for change.
Last week we looked at Bangladesh’s election as a stress test for the country’s democratic reset and what to watch as voters headed to the polls. This week, the result is in. Bangladesh has a new prime minister - Tarique Rahman.
Tarique Rahman has been sworn in after his Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secured a decisive victory in the country’s first election since the 2024 student led uprising (which was termed as GenZ revolution or the Monsoon Revolution) that removed Sheikh Hasina from power.
This Tuesday marked a symbolic handover. Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who had come back from self-imposed exile to steer Bangladesh through its transition, passed the baton to a new prime minister who had only recently returned from years in exile himself.
It is interesting to note that the landmark Bangladesh election was triggered by a Gen Z-led uprising in 2024, yet a youth-led National Citizen Party (NCP) – born out of the uprising – managed to secure only six out of 297 constituencies.
The results, officially declared on Saturday, showed that voters overwhelmingly chose Rahman’s BNP, which comfortably defeated a Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance, of which the NCP is a key partner.
For Bangladesh, this is more than a change of government. It is the beginning of a new political chapter after years of unrest, exile and upheaval.
Who is Tarique Rahman and his journey from exile to the premiership
Rahman’s journey to power has been unusually dramatic.
While Rahman's mother Khaleda Zia, was Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, his father was Ziaur Rahman, the first military leader of Bangladesh, who founded the BNP in 1978. It is no wonder that he is described by some political pundits as the “figurehead of the influential Zia family”, with both his parents having previously led the country.
He returned to Bangladesh in late 2025 after nearly 17 years in self-imposed exile in London. He had left the country in 2008 after being arrested during a military-backed anti-corruption crackdown and later faced a series of corruption and violence-related cases, which he and his party long argued were politically motivated.
During his years abroad, he continued to shape BNP strategy from a distance and remained a central figure in opposition politics.
His exile was closely tied to some of the most contentious moments in Bangladesh’s political history. He had been convicted in absentia in several cases, including for alleged involvement in the 2004 grenade attack on a political rally. Those convictions were later overturned or dropped after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government.
The political landscape shifted dramatically after the 2024 student-led uprising that removed Hasina from power, creating the conditions for Rahman’s return.
Within days of coming home, his mother and former prime minister Khaleda Zia died, and he formally became leader of the BNP soon afterwards.
Now aged 60, Rahman leads one of the two political dynasties that have shaped Bangladesh for decades.
His path has not been smooth. Supporters see him as a political survivor who was pushed into exile. Critics see him as a symbol of the country’s long-standing dynastic politics. Either way, his rise from years abroad to the premiership in just a few months marks one of the most dramatic political comebacks in recent South Asian politics.
One political analyst captured the moment neatly, saying Rahman has “seen the dark corners of politics” and now faces the test of turning that experience into national leadership.
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