Bangladesh will hold national polls on February 12, its electoral commission announced Thursday, the country's first since a student-led uprising toppled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year.

A referendum on a landmark democratic reform charter will also be held on the same day, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said in a television broadcast to the nation.

The Muslim-majority country of 170 million people has been in political turmoil since Hasina was overthrown in August 2024, ending her 15-year autocratic rule.

Her former ruling Awami League party has been banned from running in the election.

Interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who returned from exile in August 2024 at the behest of protesters to lead a caretaker government, will step down aft

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