Bangladesh set for first voted presidential poll in 35 years

Bangladesh lawmakers will elect the next president on Thursday in Parliament. The result is expected to favour BNP nominee Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and could reshape the office's role under the caretaker system.Stock photo used for illustrationBangladesh will hold its presidential election on Thursday, with lawmakers set to choose between ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party stalwart Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 11-party opposition alliance candidate Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed. The voting will take place at Parliament from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm on August 20, according to the Election Commission.The election was necessitated after Mohammed Shahabuddin, a close aide of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, resigned last month on health grounds before completing his five-year tenure. It will be the first presidential election involving voting after a gap of 35 years. Under the Constitution, a new president must be elected within 90 days after the office falls vacant, and Parliamentary Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad is currently serving as acting president.The Election Commission declared the nomination papers of both candidates valid on August 16. Alamgir, 78, is the candidate of the ruling BNP, while Ahmed, Bir Bikram and chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, is contesting as the candidate of the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party opposition alliance. The president-elect will take oath as Bangladesh's new president on Friday evening at the Darbar Hall of Bangabhaban, The Daily Star reported, citing sources at the Secretariat and Parliament Secretariat.Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who is also the BNP chairman, declared Alamgir as the ruling party's presidential candidate. The BNP, which was voted to power in the February 12 elections, currently commands a two-thirds majority in Parliament, putting Alamgir in a strong position to secure the presidency. If elected, he will become Bangladesh's 23rd president. Alamgir has been one of the BNP's most prominent leaders for more than two decades. He served as acting secretary general from 2011 before formally taking over the post in 2016, and played a prominent role in leading the party during the imprisonment of its then chairperson and former prime minister Zia, and during Rahman's absence abroad. An economist by training, he began his political career as a left-leaning student activist when Bangladesh was still East Pakistan. After joining the BNP in the early 1990s, he served as state minister for agriculture and civil aviation. When the BNP returned to power in the February 12 elections this year, he was made local government minister.Under Bangladesh's parliamentary system, the president is largely a ceremonial head of state, though the office carries key constitutional powers, including appointing the prime minister and the chief justice. The president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces, though those powers are generally exercised on the advice of the prime minister. Political analysts said the presidency could assume greater significance under the caretaker government system recently reintroduced to oversee general elections, when the president's powers would increase significantly in commanding the armed forces during such a period. They also said Alamgir's nomination could be a well-calculated move by the BNP, which had promised in its election manifesto to give the president more powers by amending the Constitution. Thursday's vote will decide who becomes Bangladesh's next president after the vacancy in the office, with Alamgir and Ahmed in the fray and the ruling BNP's parliamentary strength placing Alamgir in a strong position ahead of the result.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Aug 19, 2026 17:10 IST