Veteran Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was today elected as the country’s 23rd President. The 78-year-old leader secured 255 votes in the Presidential election held at the Jatiya Sangsad, the country’s Parliament.
He defeated former army officer Oli Ahmad, the candidate backed by the 11-party opposition alliance led by the far-right Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the country’s first major student-led political party, National Citizen Party (NCP), who received 88 votes.
A total of 343 members of Parliament cast their votes in the election, which was held under the supervision of Chief Election Commissioner ASM Nasir Uddin.
The Chief Election Commissioner later announced the results, declaring Mr Alamgir as the newly elected President.
The election marked the first time in 35 years that more than one candidate contested the Bangladeshi presidential election. In previous polls, opposition parties had not fielded candidates, leaving only a single candidate in the race.
Mr. Alamgir’s election came after he was nominated by the BNP as its presidential candidate last week. Following his nomination, he resigned as BNP Secretary General and as a member of the party’s National Standing Committee.
Although the Jatiya Sangsad has 350 seats, voting was conducted among 349 members, as the election in one constituency had been suspended. Of the 349 MPs, 343 participated in the presidential election.
The election was necessitated after Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed in 2023 as a nominee of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League (AL) party, resigned last month on health grounds before completing his five-year term.
He quit halfway through his five-year term after serving through Ms Hasina’s ouster in August 2024, the Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration, and the BNP’s return to power in February. Under the Constitution, a new President must be elected within 90 days of the office falling vacant.
The President in Bangladesh is elected by Members of Parliament. The BNP, which returned to power in the February 12 elections, has a two-thirds majority in Parliament.