Veteran Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was elected Bangladesh’s 23rd President on Thursday, defeating opposition candidate Colonel (retired) Oli Ahmad in a parliamentary vote that marked the country’s first contested presidential election in nearly 35 years. Fakhrul secured 255 votes against 88 for Ahmad, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who was backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party opposition alliance. The result was announced after lawmakers cast their ballots at the Jatiya Sangsad in Dhaka.
Fakhrul wins comfortably
The outcome was widely expected because the ruling BNP and its allies command more than a two-thirds majority in Parliament following their victory in the February general election.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin supervised the presidential election and formally declared Fakhrul the winner after the counting of votes.
The contest was significant because Bangladesh’s President is normally elected by members of Parliament without a competitive vote when only one candidate is nominated. Thursday’s election was the first contested race for the presidency since 1991.
Fakhrul, 78, had stepped down as BNP secretary general and Local Government and Rural Development Minister after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman announced him as the ruling party’s presidential candidate earlier this month.
He is expected to take oath at Bangabhaban on Friday evening.
Long political career
Fakhrul has been one of the most recognisable faces of the BNP for years and became its secretary general in 2016. During the long period when Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League were in power, he emerged as one of the principal public voices of the opposition.
His political career included repeated arrests and numerous criminal cases during years of confrontation between the BNP and the Awami League government. Before entering full-time politics, Fakhrul worked as a teacher and later held several government and ministerial positions.
He also participated in Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War before eventually joining the BNP in the 1990s.
Presidency follows political transition
Fakhrul succeeds Mohammed Shahabuddin, who resigned as President in July citing health reasons. The change comes amid a wider transformation of Bangladesh’s political landscape following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024 and the BNP’s subsequent return to power.
The February 2026 general election brought Tarique Rahman to the prime ministership and gave the BNP-led alliance a commanding parliamentary majority.
Bangladesh’s presidency is largely ceremonial, with executive authority resting with the Prime Minister and Cabinet. However, the President remains the country’s constitutional head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces and performs important functions during periods of political or constitutional uncertainty.
Fakhrul’s elevation also represents a significant transition for a politician who spent much of the past two decades in opposition. Having served as one of the BNP’s chief organisers and public representatives during its years outside power, he will now move from active party politics to the country’s highest constitutional office.