Bangladesh’s Islamist party open to unity government after February vote

(Reuters)

DHAKA, Dec 31 – A once-banned Bangladeshi Islamist party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in polls in February, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties, its chief told Reuters on Wednesday.

Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years as it marks a return to mainstream politics in the predominantly Muslim nation of 175 million. Jamaat last held power between 2001 and 2006 as a junior coalition partner with the BNP.

“We want to see a stable nation for at least five years. If the parties come together, we’ll run the government together,” Jamaat Ameer (President) Shafiqur Rahman said in an interview at his office in a residential area in Dhaka, days after the party created a buzz by securing a tie-up with a Gen-Z party.