Voting underway in presidential election
Acting President Hafiz Uddin Ahmad casts his vote in the presidential election. Photo: BNP Facebook page.
Voting is underway in the presidential election at the Jatiya Sangsad through a direct vote for the first time in three and a half decades. Voting began shortly after 2 pm on Thursday.
Earlier, a special meeting was held at 2 pm to begin the election process. Chief Election Commissioner A M M Nasir Uddin, who is serving as the election officer, chaired the meeting. Voting began immediately after the meeting ended.Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was the first to cast his vote. He was followed by BNP presidential candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
The ruling party’s candidate is Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the recently retired secretary general of the BNP and the local government minister. On the other side, the candidate of the 11-party alliance led by Jamaat is LDP Chairman retired Colonel Oli Ahmed.Oli Ahmed, the candidate of the 11-party alliance, is absent today as he is not a member of Parliament.According to information from the Election Commission, there are 349 members of Parliament eligible to vote in this election. Since the Chattogram 4 seat is vacant, the number of voters is one fewer than the total number of parliamentary seats. The voter list has been prepared according to the Parliament’s “division number.”
Among the 349 lawmakers, 250 are from the BNP alliance, including reserved seat members. Of them, one each is from the BJP, Gonosamhati Andolon and Gono Odhikar Parishad, while the rest are from the BNP.
The Jamaat alliance has 90 MPs, including 77 from Jamaat, eight from the NCP, three from Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, one from Khelafat Majlis and one from JAGPA. In addition, there are eight independent MPs and one MP from Islami Andolan. A candidate needs 175 votes to win the election.
Voting will continue until 5 pm. Islami Andolan has announced a boycott of the election, saying the presidential election was not held in accordance with the July Charter.
Meanwhile, BNP Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas has written to the speaker saying he will be unable to vote due to illness. In addition, expelled Jamaat lawmaker Gazi Nazrul Islam had not announced any decision regarding the vote as of Wednesday.
Despite knowing that BNP nominated candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s victory is 100 percent certain because of the current political situation, the parliamentary majority and Article 70, the opposition alliance’s decision to field a candidate has sparked widespread discussion.
The opposition alliance says it took the step to strengthen the democratic system. They say that if the Constitution had been reformed in accordance with the referendum, there would have been no fear of Article 70. They also say the result could have been different if lawmakers had been able to vote independently. Under this article, lawmakers cannot vote against their own party. If they do, they lose their seats in Parliament.
The elected president is scheduled to take the oath of office on Friday. The Election Commission, Jatiya Sangsad and Bangabhaban have already completed all preparations for the swearing in ceremony.
