Nobel? Check. Next stop: Politics.

FARJANA K. GODHULY/AFP

Why settle for being a Nobel Peace Prize winner when you can be a politician? Microcredit guru Muhammad Yunus announced yesterday that he’s launching a new political party in his native Bangladesh. Sick of his country’s divisiveness and corruption, the 2006 Nobel laureate wants to create an “honest” political alternative, no small feat in a country where politics have long been held hostage to two main parties of bitter (and equally corrupt) rivals.

Bangladesh has been in a state of emergency for over a month, when the army stepped in and indefinitely delayed imminent elections. Since then, political activity has been largely banned, press freedoms have been restricted, and allegations of extra-judicial killings have been widespread. But the public reaction to the delay has been surprisingly muted—almost one of relief from the months of political protests going on between the constantly feuding main players. Whether Yunus can seize this interim period as a moment to launch a serious third way in Bangladeshi politics remains to be seen. Vocal or not, it certainly seems like much of the public shares his call for a fresh start.