Dhaka: With women representing only 3.6 percent of the candidates, political parties in Bangladesh are once again sidelining female candidates ahead of the February 12 national election. Out of 1,732 party-nominated candidates, only 63 are women, while an additional 19 women are contesting the election as independent contenders. In total, 82 women candidates are participating among 1,983 contestants across the country’s 300 constituencies.

According to United News of Bangladesh, of the 51 political parties participating in the election, only 20 parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Marxist), have women candidates in the 13th parliamentary election. The BNP and Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Marxist) have fielded the highest number of female candidates, with 10 each. Other parties such as Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-(JSD-Rab) and Insaniat Bilplab Bangladesh have nominated six women candidates each, while Jatiya Party has five.

Despite fielding a large number of candidates, parties like Islami Andolan Bangladesh-IAB, with 253 candidates, and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, with 224 contenders, have not nominated a single woman for the election. In terms of percentage, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Marxist) has the highest share of women candidates, with women accounting for 31 percent of its 29 nominees.

A gentlemen’s agreement was reached among political parties in the July National Charter 2025, calling for the nomination of at least 5 percent women of their respective aspirants in the next general election and at least 10 percent women in the 14th national election. However, this agreement will not be incorporated into the Constitution. A total of 27 political parties and alliances endorsed the agreement, while three parties issued notes of dissent, yet most parties ignored the commitment for the 13th parliamentary election.

Following the January 20 withdrawal deadline, the final number of candidates stood at 1,983, including 1,732 partisan candidates and 251 independents, with 82 women contesting nationwide. The Election Commission announced the schedule on December 11 to hold the 13th parliament election and the referendum on the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order simultaneously on February 12.