ISTANBUL

After a turbulent political career that included years in exile, Tarique Rahman now stands on the verge of becoming the prime minister of Bangladesh, a South Asian country of over 173 million people, following two years under a caretaker government.

His party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), declared it would form a new government following a decisive electoral victory in Thursday’s vote, which was the first since the July 2024 uprising that ousted Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government.

The BNP secured 209 seats, well over the 151 required to form a majority, while its closest rival, an alliance led by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, won 77.

In the run-up to the elections, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that Tarique Rahman would become prime minister if the party won, signaling a clear path to his premiership as the newly elected government prepares to take office on Tuesday.

Born in 1967 in Dhaka, when the country was still part of East Pakistan, Rahman has politics as part of his inheritance.

He is the eldest son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and former President Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated in 1981. Tarique Rahman was a teenager when his father was killed by members of the Bangladesh Army.

Political imperative for Rahman

Rahman “has gathered considerable experience through his long political career,” as he learned governance from his parents. “This legacy is a great treasure for him,” Zakaria Polash, strategic coordinator of the Dhaka-based Communication and Research Foundation, told Anadolu.

While it remains to be seen whether Rahman can live up to Khaleda Zia or Ziaur Rahman, it is “imperative” for him to follow their approach to foreign policy, which is “to create a balance among international players,” he said.

Rahman has “no easy legacy” to inherit from his mother, said Sumaiya Rabeya, a political scientist at Tunku Abdul Rahman University and a representative of the Jamaat policy-making team.

“Zia earned her political stature through resilience, sacrifice, and a firm stance against authoritarianism,” she told Anadolu, emphasizing her position on “sovereignty and democratic space.”

Rahman, also known as Tarique Zia, began studying international relations at BAF Shaheen College, Dhaka, in the 1980s. However, during that period, his political pursuits reportedly took precedence over academic ones, according to the Dhaka Tribune.

He married cardiologist Zubaida Rahman in 1994, and the couple has a daughter, Zaima Zarnaz Rahman.

After 2001, Rahman became increasingly visible in national politics during the BNP-led four-party alliance government. He was criticized for emerging as a parallel center of power within the party.

2 decades of exile in London

Rahman’s political journey also includes nearly two decades of exile in London, during which he remained a central decision-making figure in the party despite being abroad.

His leadership from London, while providing “safety and continuity of party command,” also created “a visible leadership vacuum on the ground,” Rabeya said.

During his years in exile, “many grassroots supporters felt that his voice was not as vocal or as forceful as the political situation demanded,” she added.

He left the country with his family in 2008 for medical treatment after being released from jail while facing multiple charges, including corruption.

He was arrested on March 7 after widespread unrest resulted in an army-backed caretaker government in January that year.

Rahman eventually secured bail in all 13 of his cases and was released from prison after 18 months in September 2008. He left for London the same month.

His party and family accused the authorities of subjecting Rahman to physical and mental torture during his detention.

He returned to Bangladesh at the end of last year, in a significant moment for his role in Bangladeshi politics.

“Supporters view his exile as a consequence of a politicized legal environment, while critics point to corruption convictions and court rulings that went against him,” Rabeya said.

Rahman took the helm of the BNP officially last month after the death of his mother.

He was serving as the acting chairman of the BNP between 2018 and 2026 while Zia was imprisoned after being sentenced to five years in prison in February 2018. She was later acquitted of all charges and released following the mass uprising.

Rahman previously also served as the party’s senior vice-chairman, which he took over in 2009, and senior joint secretary.

As a boy, Rahman “witnessed the harsh reality of Bangladesh’s liberation struggle alongside his mother, Begum Khaleda Zia,” according to a biography on the BNP’s website.

During Bangladesh’s independence struggle from Pakistan, Rahman, his mother, and his brother were arrested along with the families of other Bengali military officers, the biography said, adding that they were released after “his father and his compatriots secured Bangladesh’s victory.”

Promises to fulfill

Ahead of the elections, the BNP pledged to build a Bangladesh where “terrorism, corruption, and discrimination are eliminated,” while proposing to cap the prime minister’s tenure at 10 years and expand financial support for marginalized and low-income families.

Time will show whether the party can translate those campaign promises into policy.

Following the BNP victory at the polls, Rahman called for national unity to help rebuild the South Asian country.

"We are taking office at a time when we have to start our journey through a fragile economy, ineffective constitutional institutions, and a weak law and order situation left by a fascist regime. However, if the people's strength is with us, no obstacle can stop us," Rahman said in his first address after the election.

"National unity is our strength; division is our weakness," he said, urging everyone to stay united.

Foreign policy priorities

While holding the majority of the parliament is good for governance, it also creates a “potential vulnerability to turn ‘authoritative’ like Hasina,” Polash said, warning that Rahman now has to consider the voice of the opposition while framing policies due to its popular vote size.

“Now he has to bring them into consideration while taking his governmental policies, rather than being exclusionary,” he said.

“The country’s foreign policy should be guided by national interest,” Rabeya said, outlining what she sees as the appropriate direction for future external engagement.

Relations with India, she argued, must rest on “mutual respect, fair water-sharing agreements, border justice, and a clear principle of non-interference,” while ties with China and the US should prioritize economic development, trade access, technology transfer and investment without “falling into debt dependency or geopolitical alignment traps.”

With Pakistan, bilateral ties should remain “diplomatic and pragmatic,” Rabeya added. “Bangladesh must not become a chessboard for major power rivalry.”