Bangladesh’s parliament has elected veteran Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the country’s 23rd president, comfortably defeating opposition candidate Oli Ahmed.
Alamgir, a former BNP secretary-general, secured 255 votes in Thursday’s ballot, compared with 88 for Ahmed, a former army colonel representing an alliance led by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
All 349 members of parliament participated in the vote.
Although the president serves as Bangladesh’s constitutional head of state, executive authority rests primarily with the government and the presidency is largely ceremonial.
Thursday’s contest was nevertheless notable because it was the first presidential election in 35 years in which lawmakers had a choice between competing candidates. Previous presidential ballots had gone uncontested by the political opposition.
The Awami League, led by ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, did not participate after being banned by the interim administration of Muhammad Yunus.
The presidential vote followed Mohammed Shahabuddin’s resignation last month on health grounds, almost two years before his term was scheduled to expire in April 2028.
Reuters previously reported, citing sources, that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government had also pushed for Shahabuddin’s departure because of his longstanding connections with Hasina, who is currently in India.
Alamgir is scheduled to be sworn in as Bangladesh’s new president on Friday evening.
