Economist Podcasts Dhaka matters: an election for Bangladesh
33 snips
Feb 11, 2026 
Shera Avi-Yonah, a business writer who covers AI in recruitment and shares her own application story. Oliver Morton, a planetary affairs editor and science writer on astrobiology and space habitation. Mark Johnson, a senior editor reporting on Bangladesh’s pivotal election. They discuss Bangladesh’s political shift and contenders. They explore making other worlds habitable and how AI is reshaping hiring.
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Democracy's Fresh But Fragile Return
- Bangladesh's 2024 vote is the country's first competitive election since 2008 and many voters have never cast a real ballot.
- The return to democracy brings excitement but not guaranteed wholesale political renewal.
Campaign Bus Ride With Rahman
- Markee Johnson rode on Tariq Rahman's bulletproof campaign bus to a rally and observed crowds seeing him for the first time since December.
- Rahman spent 17 years in self-exile and returns facing past corruption allegations he denies.
Two-Party Reality Of The Vote
- The election is mainly between BNP, led by Tariq Rahman, and Jamaat, an Islamist party gaining support through social media and perceived competence.
- Jamaat's discipline and image as 'cleaner' fuel votes despite liberal worries about its gender stance.