Bangladesh parties sign reform charter

Most political parties in Bangladesh endorsed a wide-ranging “July Charter” of state reform, drafted after last year’s student-led uprising, but the signing ceremony was disrupted by street violence and boycotted by a key group. The National Citizens Party—formed by leaders of the movement and four left-leaning parties—refused to participate, citing the absence of a legal framework or binding guarantees to ensure the charter’s commitments are implemented.

Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, head of the interim government, described the charter’s signing as a major step toward restoring political order and preparing for national elections in February 2026. The charter, the product of a National Consensus Commission and rounds of dialogue among parties and reform bodies, reached agreement on at least 84 items—about half of them constitutional—and proposes sweeping institutional changes: constitutional amendments, rebalancing executive power between president and prime minister, reinstatement of an election-time caretaker government, guarantees of electoral neutrality and judicial independence, decentralisation, and other governance reforms.

Supporters say the measures—among them a proposed bicameral legislature with an upper house elected by proportional representation, a 10-year limit on prime ministerial tenure, and a ban on a sitting prime minister serving as party chief—are designed to check executive dominance, reduce dynastic control and make parliament more representative. Critics and absent signatories warn the charter lacks a concrete implementation timeline or legal enforcement mechanisms, raising fears it could join a long list of well-intentioned but unfulfilled reform plans in Bangladesh’s political history.

Observers note the country’s repeated pattern of commissions and reports—such as post-1990 task forces and the 2007 Regulatory Reforms Commission—producing detailed recommendations that were only partially implemented or shelved. The July Charter differs in having emerged from broader consultations and cross-spectrum agreements on contentious issues, but its future hinges on whether it is anchored by a clear, measurable roadmap with deadlines and deliverables or whether it will lapse into another archived promise.