DHAKA, Bangladesh, Dec 11, (AP): Bangladesh’s next national elections will be held on Feb. 12, 18 months after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted through a mass uprising following weeks of violence that left hundreds dead and thousands injured, the chief election commissioner said Thursday. A.M.M. Nasir Uddin confirmed the date in a televised address to the nation.

He said that a national referendum would also be held on the same day as voting to elect 300 lawmakers. The last elections were held in January 2024, when Hasina returned to office for a fourth consecutive term. The vote was boycotted by her main rivals, who accused her administration of rigging the result. In July and August 2024, huge protests broke out, leading to Hasina's removal from office.

She fled to India, where she is now in exile. An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has been running the country since Aug. 8, 2024. The Yunus-led administration has banned all activities of Hasina’s Awami League party, which means the former ruling party would not be able to join the race.

The new elections would be the 13th since the country gained independence from Pakistan through a bloody war in 1971. Hasina's party demanded the withdrawal of the ban, and her son, in an interview with The Associated Press, had said earlier that Bangladesh could be stabilized if an inclusive election is held. Bangladesh is at a crossroads as it struggles to return to democracy amid allegations of violations of human and political rights under Yunus.

Political parties have been demanding that the interim government hold a referendum on political reforms contained in the "July National Charter,” named after the uprising that began in July 2024. The charter is currently nonbinding, and the parties say a referendum is needed to make it legally binding and a part of the constitution. Only Parliament can amend the constitution in Bangladesh, a parliamentary democracy of 170 million people. The chief election commissioner said the referendum would be held along with the next voting.