Bangladesh elects Mirza Alamgir as president

Bangladesh’s parliament has elected veteran Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the country’s new president, making the longtime opposition figure head of state following a major political shift.

The 78-year-old was elected after defeating Oli Ahmed, a retired army colonel and chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, Caliber.Az reports, citing Reuters.

Ahmed was the candidate of the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party opposition alliance.

Chief Election Commissioner A.M.M. Nasir Uddin declared Alamgir the winner after he secured 255 votes to Ahmed’s 88.

The BNP returned to power in February, following the 2024 ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government. Although the presidency is largely ceremonial, Alamgir will serve as head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Executive power remains with the prime minister and cabinet in the South Asian country of around 173 million people.

Alamgir is one of the BNP’s longest-serving senior figures. He served as the party’s secretary-general from 2016 until being nominated for the presidency.

During Hasina’s rule, he emerged as one of the opposition’s most prominent leaders and was repeatedly arrested while facing several legal cases.

Alamgir began his professional career as a teacher after studying economics at the University of Dhaka.

He joined the BNP in the early 1990s and gradually rose through its ranks, becoming one of the party’s most prominent national figures.

Throughout his political career, he held several ministerial positions and most recently served as local government minister before stepping down after being nominated for the presidency.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov