Mirza Fakhrul elected president with 255 to 88 votes
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir cast a vote for himself, with Prime Minister and BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman standing beside him in Parliament on Thursday. Photo: Courtesy of BNP
The result was widely anticipated, and it unfolded as expected. Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is set to take office as president after winning the election through a vote in Parliament.
Voting was held in the Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday in the election for the country’s 23rd president. BNP nominated candidate Mirza Fakhrul won with 255 votes. His only rival, Oli Ahmed, the candidate of the 11-party alliance led by Jamaat e Islami, received 88 votes.
Voting was held from 2 pm to 5 pm. The result was announced by the election officer for the presidential election, Chief Election Commissioner A M M Nasir Uddin.
As a result, 78 year old Fakhrul now faces no obstacle to becoming the resident of Bangabhaban. He will formally begin his journey as head of state after taking the oath on Friday evening.
Before becoming a presidential candidate, Fakhrul served as BNP secretary general. He also served as the minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives. He has already stepped down from both positions.
Fakhrul, the lawmaker for Thakurgaon 1, was present in Parliament on Thursday to cast his vote in the presidential election.
After voting began, Mirza Fakhrul appeared at the ballot box with Prime Minister and BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman. Fakhrul cast his vote after Tarique Rahman.
Other members of Parliament then cast their votes one by one. Under the Constitution, only members of Parliament can vote in a presidential election.
With the ruling BNP holding an overwhelming majority in Parliament, the victory of the party’s presidential candidate was almost certain.
As the Chattogram 4 seat is vacant, the 350 seat Parliament currently has 349 members. Of them, 250 lawmakers belong to BNP and its allied parties. The Jamaat led alliance has a total of 90 lawmakers. There are also eight independent lawmakers and one lawmaker from Islami Andolan.
According to the announced results, a total of 343 lawmakers cast their votes. Oli Ahmed, the candidate of the 11-party alliance, was not a member of Parliament and therefore could not vote. The politician, who previously represented several constituencies in Parliament for BNP, currently leads the Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP.
This was the second presidential election since Bangladesh returned to parliamentary democracy in 1991.
A presidential election was held in the Fifth Parliament in 1991. BNP candidate Abdur Rahman Biswas was elected with 172 votes. His rival, Awami League candidate Justice Badrul Haider Chowdhury, received 92 votes.
After that, Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, Iajuddin Ahmed, Zillur Rahman, Md Abdul Hamid and Md Sahabuddin were elected president unopposed as there were no opposition candidates.
The most recent president, Md Sahabuddin, was sworn in as the country’s 22nd president on April 24, 2023. Accordingly, his term was scheduled to continue until the 23rd of 2028.
However, the situation changed after the Awami League was ousted from power during the July uprising in 2024. Although Sahabuddin remained in office during the interim government’s one and a half year tenure, he came under intense pressure.
Five months after the BNP formed the government following the 13th parliamentary election in February, he resigned on July 24, citing health reasons. As a result, it became necessary to hold the presidential election ahead of schedule.
