Nahid Islam feared for his life two years ago.
The then-student activist was detained and tortured for helping lead widespread protests in Bangladesh that began in 2024.
They were sparked by anger over a quota system that limited the number of government jobs that were awarded based on merit.
Within weeks, demonstrations led largely by gen Z drove prime minister Sheikh Hasina from office, ending more than a decade in power and igniting hopes that younger people could reshape Bangladesh politics.
Now 27, Mr Islam is chair of the student-founded National Citizen Party (NCP), which is contesting its first national election.
"The political parties of Bangladesh, including the various anti-fascist forces we once trusted, were united in bringing about Hasina's fall," he tells the ABC.
"But there is no consensus on what post-Hasina Bangladesh should look like.
"We have realised that our fight will be long-term."
Unlike established parties, the NCP lacks access to deep pockets of funding.
One of its most contentious decisions has been whether — and with whom — to form alliances to boost its chances of winning seats.
Compromise and backlash
Last month, the NCP formed an alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh's largest Islamist party.
Mr Islam says it was a pragmatic, not ideological, surrender.
"When we are forming an electoral alliance, we are not abandoning our own political beliefs. It's just a strategic alliance," he says.
Mr Islam says he believes many of their political opponents are content with the status quo.
"Many parties want the same system to continue — just with them in place of Hasina," he adds.
This election is taking place in an unusually fragmented political landscape.
Hasina's Awami League — the dominant force in Bangladeshi politics for more than a decade — has been barred from contesting.
But Mr Islam says removing the party did not uproot a state shaped by exclusion and capture.
His party wants to rewrite the constitution, reform education and healthcare, and rebuild a democracy built on "empathy, unity and harmony".
Translating the uprising's ideals into an electoral strategy, though, has tested the party's cohesion.
The alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami immediately triggered dozens of resignations.
One of the most prominent faces of the student-aligned party, Tasnim Jara, decided to quit and run as an independent.
But Mr Islam doubled down on the strategy to form an alliance when a student leader, Sharif Osman Hadi, who was a vocal critic of Indian influence in Bangladesh, was murdered in December.
"After the killing, we realised that the success of the NCP in the upcoming election is crucial amid the upcoming political crisis."
Largest Islamist party returns
Jamaat-e-Islami was banned under Hasina's crackdown on religiously affiliated parties and spent nearly 17 years effectively exiled from formal politics.
Its leader, Shafiqur Rahman, has pledged a zero-tolerance approach to corruption.
"The party will remain free from corruption," he tells Reuters.
"We will ensure social justice for all."
While Jamaat advocates governance grounded in Islamic principles and sharia law, it has sought to broaden its appeal — particularly through its alliance with the youth-led NCP.
"For some youth, Jamaat [and the alliance] is seen as a departure from the old way of doing politics," says Tom Kean, an analyst with the International Crisis Group who recently spent time in Dhaka.
Others remain sceptical.
Mubashar Hasan, a Bangladeshi researcher at the University of Western Sydney, questions whether Jamaat will truly moderate and whether its actions will match its words.
"Eventually parties like Jamaat have had to moderate their political ideology … there are examples of AKP [The Justice and Development Party] in Turkey and others, but they've moderated to win the election."
Where are the women?
Women played a visible role in the July uprising that toppled Hasina's government.
Yet there are few female candidates across the major parties.
Of the 2,568 candidates nominated for the 300-seat parliament, only 109 are women — just over 4 per cent.
Nabila Tasnid, a former engineer and head of compliance at an international firm, quit her job to run for a seat in Dhaka under the NCP banner.
She says she's not focused on headline-grabbing promises.
"The previous government spoke endlessly about development — plans, budgets, mega projects — but the results were minimal," she says.
"Transparency and accountability matter more."
She agrees that the alliance with Jamaat is tactical rather than ideological.
Shireen Huq of the Women's Affairs Reform Commission says parties ignored proposals to increase women's representation.
"[It] has been totally sidelined."
Kamrun Nahar, of the women's rights group Naripokkho, says even reduced targets — such as 33 per cent representation — were missed entirely.
"At best, parties reached 5 per cent.
"It's not just about the nomination; women also need support from the party, but the problem is the mindset, as often these parties don't believe that a woman can be a leader."
Who's beating the student party?
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), long Hasina's rival, has emerged as the frontrunner, according to recent polling by the US-based International Republican Institute.
Its chair, Tarique Rahman, the son of Bangladesh's first female prime minister, Khaleda Zia, returned from self-imposed exile in the UK after years abroad.
Mr Rahman was arrested on corruption charges in 2007 and says he was tortured in custody.
Local news reports suggested his release was conditional on leaving politics and that he was forced to sign a pledge under the previous Hasina government.
Mr Hasan, who has met Mr Rahman, says history underpins much of his appeal.
"Tarique was forced into exile, many of his associates were jailed or disappeared," Mr Hasan said.
"His return carries a sense of reclaiming political agency that many sympathise with."
But the BNP's record is far from clean.
Mr Rahman has expelled or demoted more than 7,000 party members over allegations of corruption or extortion.
"Extortion has long been part of politics in Bangladesh, where the rule of law is weak," Mr Hasan says.
"I haven't seen any government that was not involved."
BNP adviser Mahdi Amin says the party's economic platform is focused on diversifying exports beyond garments into engineering, agriculture-processing and footwear.
It also plans to introduce district-level "one-stop solutions" in a bid to reduce bureaucracy for businesses and those looking to start up.
A fragile pre-election climate
The vote is unfolding amid sporadic violence and attacks on media outlets.
Offices of major newspapers The Daily Star and Prothom Alo have been vandalised and set on fire — attacks the interim government describes as deliberate efforts to disrupt the election.
Mr Kean, the analyst with the International Crisis Group, says the incidents reflect an unstable transition rather than a return to mass unrest.
He has undertaken research which highlights fears of extremism, not directed at Jamaat itself, but at the risk of radical groups exploiting political uncertainty.
"The concern is about the enabling environment that a Jamaat government could create for more radical groups," Mr Kean said.
Falling trust in security forces is another complicating factor.
"The police were heavily politicised under Hasina," he says.
"Since August, they've struggled to fulfil their basic role of maintaining law and order."
Analysts say this creates a particularly challenging environment for minorities.
Lessons for other gen Z student parties
Early polling suggests the NCP is sitting in third place.
But analysts say its emergence has injected rare energy into a political system long dominated by dynasties.
Rumela Sen, a scholar at Columbia University's South Asia Institute, says the students' demands are ambitious but difficult to realise as a new party.
Still, she argued the movement holds lessons beyond Bangladesh.
"Across South Asia, gen Z has raised core issues — democracy, accountability, redistribution," she says.
Mr Hasan, from the University of Western Sydney, is unsurprised by polling that places the NCP well behind established parties.
"I always saw the student leaders of July as facilitators of the movement rather than long-term political leaders."
Regardless of whether Bangladesh's next government can deliver on the aspirations unleashed by the uprising, candidate Ms Tasnid is urging people not to lose hope.
"The power of youth, integrity and honesty is the biggest power."
