BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman. File Photo

DHAKA, February 6, 2026 (BSS) – Global media outlet The Economist has dubbed Tarique Rahman led Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as the “favourite” to win the February 12 national election as it carried an analysis published on Thursday.

“The BNP is the favourite to win,” the UK-based news journal said in an article titled “The new Bangladesh is only half built”.

It noted that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led for years by the late Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister was now fronted by her son Tarique Rahman.

“It is a seminal moment: the first competitive vote in Bangladesh since 2008. For months observers have worried that violence would break out. So far, thankfully, they have been proved wrong,” reads the analysis.

It said the contest is largely a fight between two long-established parties, both of which were persecuted by the old regime naming Jamaat-e-Islami as its main rival calling it Bangladesh’s “largest and most moderate Islamist outfit”.

“(But) The BNP is the favourite to win,” it said.
The Economist, however, commented that Bangladesh would flourish only if it sustains its enthusiasm for reform and “whoever wins will have a lot to do”.

The analysis said the South Asian nation’s “most urgent worry is the economy”.

It said the interim government led by Nobel laureate Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus managed to keep the economy “from disaster” but big changes were needed.

Bangladesh will graduate this year from a group of “least developed countries” that enjoy advantages in trade and concessionary loans. 
    
“But) It needs to make its factories more efficient. It must increase government revenue, which is 7% of GDP, compared with 20% across Asia. And it needs to cut red tape and hammer corrupt bureaucrats who hold businesses to ransom,” the analysis wrote.

The Economist said “relations with India matter, too”.

The outlet observed that Bangladeshis were irked when Indian officials “falsely paint Bangladesh as tainted by anti-Hindu rage”.

It said the interim administration was “too ready to needle India” while the next government must reset ties.

“The last task is political renewal at home,” it wrote.

The Economist said the election was a welcome milestone but the “hard job of building a new Bangladesh has only just begun”.