Bangladesh holds its first contested presidential election in thirty-five years.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir of the Uuling BNP is up against Oli Ahmad, a former army officer and the nominee of the Jamaat-led 11-party alliance.
Dhaka, Bangladesh — The ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is running against former army officer Oli Ahmad, the nominee of the 11-party opposition alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami, in the country's first fought presidential election in 35 years.
According to Bangladesh's Election Commission, 349 members of parliament are eligible to cast ballots in the parliamentary chamber between 8:00 and 11:00 GMT on Thursday. The results are anticipated hours later.
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Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed in 2023 as a nominee of deposed Prime Minister Sheik Hasina's Awami League (AL) party, resigned last month, setting off the election. He served through the dismissal of Hasina in August 2024, the temporary government formed by Muhammad Yunus, and the BNP's comeback in February before resigning halfway through his five-year term.
The presidential election on Thursday will be the first to be contested since October 1991, when BNP candidate Abdur Rahman Biswas defeated AL nominee Badrul Haider Chowdhury by a vote of 172 to 92. Since then, there has been no contest in any presidential election.
However, most people consider the result to be inevitable.
Alamgir has a clear numerical advantage because 247 of the 349 parliamentarians who are eligible to vote are members of the BNP and 90 are members of the opposition alliance led by Jamaat.
However, the vote has symbolic meaning for a nation changing its institutions two years after Hasina's strict 15-year dictatorship ended in a revolt in 2024.
He thanked Prime Minister Tarique Rahman for choosing him and promised to uphold Bangladesh's independence and sovereignty at a BNP parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday. Rahman encouraged BNP lawmakers to support Alamgir in return.
Alamgir's opponent, retired Colonel Ahmad, 85, is the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a six-term member of parliament, and a decorated veteran of Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971.
According to Bangladesh's Election Commission, 349 members of parliament are eligible to cast ballots in the parliamentary chamber between 8:00 and 11:00 GMT on Thursday. The results are anticipated hours later.
List 2 of 4: Sheik Hasina promises to return, but will Bangladesh welcome the guilty former prime minister? Mohammed Shahabuddin, the president of Bangladesh, resigns.
List 3 of 4: Bangladesh creates history by winning its maiden Test cricket match in Australia; List 4 of 4: Landslides kill nine people, including eight Rohingya at a camp for refugees; end of list
Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed in 2023 as a nominee of deposed Prime Minister Sheik Hasina's Awami League (AL) party, resigned last month, setting off the election. He served through the dismissal of Hasina in August 2024, the temporary government formed by Muhammad Yunus, and the BNP's comeback in February before resigning halfway through his five-year term.
The presidential election on Thursday will be the first to be contested since October 1991, when BNP candidate Abdur Rahman Biswas defeated AL nominee Badrul Haider Chowdhury by a vote of 172 to 92. Since then, there has been no contest in any presidential election.
However, most people consider the result to be inevitable.
Alamgir has a clear numerical advantage because 247 of the 349 parliamentarians who are eligible to vote are members of the BNP and 90 are members of the opposition alliance led by Jamaat.
However, the vote has symbolic meaning for a nation changing its institutions two years after Hasina's strict 15-year dictatorship ended in a revolt in 2024.
He thanked Prime Minister Tarique Rahman for choosing him and promised to uphold Bangladesh's independence and sovereignty at a BNP parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday. Rahman encouraged BNP lawmakers to support Alamgir in return.
Alamgir's opponent, retired Colonel Ahmad, 85, is the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a six-term member of parliament, and a decorated veteran of Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971.
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