Bangladesh all set to elect new president; BNP’s Mirza Alamgir frontrunner
Bangladesh is set for its first contested presidential election in 35 years, with ruling BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir the frontrunner against opposition candidate Oli Ahmed. Parliament will vote Thursday, with Alamgir expected to become the country's 23rd president
Dhaka: Bangladesh is all set to elect its new president on Thursday, with ruling BNP stalwart Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir the frontrunner in a contest that marks the country’s first presidential election in 35 years.
Lawmakers will choose between Alamgir and Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed, the candidate of the 11-party opposition alliance.
The voting will be held at the parliament (Jatiya Sangsad) from 2:00 pm to 5 pm, according to the Election Commission.
Alamgir, 78, is the candidate of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), while Ahmed, 84, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is contesting as the candidate of the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance.
The Election Commission declared the nomination papers of both candidates valid on August 16.
It is the first contested presidential election in Bangladesh since 1991, as the office had largely been filled through consensus and uncontested polls in recent decades.
Speaking at the BNP parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday, Alamgir appealed to the BNP lawmakers to vote for him in Thursday’s presidential election.
“If I have made any mistake or unintentionally hurt anyone during my tenure, I seek forgiveness,” said Alamgir, who has served as BNP’s Senior Joint Secretary General, Acting Secretary General and Secretary General.
Several lawmakers present at the meeting said the veteran leader became emotional and broke down in tears several times.
Alamgir pledged that he would never compromise on the country’s independence and sovereignty.
The president-elect will take the 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.
The presidential 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.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who is also the BNP chairman, had nominated Alamgir, a longtime secretary general of the party and a close ally of former premier Khaleda Zia, as its presidential candidate.
Under the Constitution, a new president is required to be elected within 90 days of the office falling vacant.
Parliamentary Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad is currently serving as acting president, as required under the Constitution following a vacancy in the office.
The Constitution provides for the president to be elected by Parliament.
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, Alamgir will become Bangladesh’s 23rd president. He has been one of the BNP’s most prominent leaders for more than two decades, having served as acting secretary general from 2011 before formally taking over the post in 2016.
He played a prominent role in leading the BNP during the imprisonment of its then-chairperson and former prime minister Zia and the absence of Rahman, who was abroad at the time.
The president is largely a ceremonial head of state under Bangladesh’s parliamentary system, with key constitutional powers, including appointing the prime minister and the chief justice.
Though the president is the supreme commander of the armed forces, those powers are generally exercised on the advice of the prime minister.
Political analysts, however, said the presidency could assume greater significance under the caretaker government system recently reintroduced to oversee general elections, when the president’s power would increase significantly in commanding the armed forces during such a period.
The analysts also opine that Alamgir’s nomination could be a well-calculated move of BNP, which in its election manifesto had promised to equip the president with more power by amending the Constitution.
An economist by training, Alamgir made his political debut as a left-leaning student activist when Bangladesh was still East Pakistan. Bangladesh was liberated from Pakistan with India’s help in 1971.
After joining the BNP in the early 90s, Alamgir served as state minister for agriculture and civil aviation.
When the BNP returned to power in the February 12 elections this year, Alamgir was made the local government minister.
