The Bangladeshi military-backed government has announced that elections will be held in the third week of December.
Fakhruddin Ahmed, the head of the interim government, made the announcement on Monday, saying that a specific date would be set later by the electoral commission.
"This will dispel any misgivings among the political parties about the timeframe of the election," he said in a nationwide televised speech.
The caretaker government will hold formal talks with political parties from May 22 to discuss election issues.
The general election has stalled, initially being planned for January 2007.
They were postponed following weeks of political riots in which at least 30 people died and hundreds were injured.
Then Ahmed's interim government took control and declared a state of emergency with the military's backing.
They vowed to deal with the country's disastrous levels of corruption before holding elections.
Ahmed's government has also attempted to marginalise from politics Bangladesh's two main and longstanding political figures, Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed.
They are both former prime ministers who have been embroiled in corruption cases launched by the current government.