08/10/2026
🇧🇩 What happens to reform when political power changes hands?
At the Bay of Bengal Conversation 2026, EPD’s Michael Lidauer reflected on Bangladesh’s 2026 election and referendum, drawing on Prof. Ali Riaz’s book ‘A Fractured Path’. 📕
In his intervention, Michael explored what it takes to sustain democratic transition and agreed reforms after an election reshapes political power.
The election answered who should govern. The referendum asked under what reformed rules Bangladesh should be governed. But when elections redistribute political power, sustaining reform requires more than new rules. As Michael put it: “Regime change is not yet democratic transition; an election is indispensable, but an election alone does not produce democracy; and institutional reform itself will not be sufficient unless political behaviour changes as well.’’
When asked about the standards that reforms should be based on, Michael referred to the international human rights standards that Bangladesh itself has ratified and adheres to.
👥 And political behaviour is shaped not only by those who hold power, but also by who has the opportunity to exercise it. In a studio conversation recorded for YouTube on the sidelines of the event, EPD’s Anastasia Wibawa explored this through the experience of women in politics, looking at the barriers that can stand between participation and meaningful leadership, and what is needed to create a safer, more inclusive and trusted environment for women to lead.
💻 In another session on “Elections in an Era of Disruption”, Anastasia highlighted the importance of protecting electoral integrity, fairness, and citizens’ ability to make informed choices as the speed, scale, and opacity of electoral manipulation increase dramatically. Building electoral resilience requires greater campaign transparency, institutional accountability, privacy protection, accountable AI use, and safeguards for equal participation.
Through the EU-funded AHEAD Bangladesh project, led by EPD, we are working to strengthen inclusive political participation, civic engagement and citizen election observation, supporting Bangladesh’s democratic transition beyond election day.
Read more about the project 🖇️ https://epd.eu/what-we-do/programmes/ahead-bangladesh/
European Union in Bangladesh Bay of Bengal Conversation
