Bangladesh elects ruling party veteran Alamgir as president

By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and Reuters.

Key points

• Seventy-eight-year old Alamgir from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was declared the winner after a 255-to-88 parliamentary vote on Thursday.
• Shahabuddin was elected president in 2023 at the height of the Awami League's power.
• Late last month, 76-year-old President Mohammed Shahabuddin resigned two years before the end of his full term citing health reservations.
• Hasina fled Bangladesh after the mass uprising that ousted her administration in 2024.
• While largely ceremonial, serves as head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the presidency.

After the premature resignation of the former president for health reasons, members of parliament in Bangladesh have elected ruling party veteran Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the next president.

Seventy-eight-year old Alamgir from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was declared the winner after a 255-to-88 parliamentary vote on Thursday. He defeated Oli Ahmed, 84, a retired army colonel, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party and candidate of the 11-party opposition alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami.

"I dream of a happy, prosperous and welfare-oriented state where marginalised communities, hard-working people and daily wage earners can afford meals twice a day, " Alamgir remarked before the vote, according to the state news agency BSS.

After the fall of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League administration in 2024 after youth protests, the BNP returned to power, winning a two-thirds majority in parliament and electing Tarique Rahman as prime minister after the February 12 general election.

Late last month, 76-year-old President Mohammed Shahabuddin resigned two years before the end of his full term citing health reservations. The vote was on Thursday as the constitution requires a new president to be elected within 90 days.

Alamgir joined the BNP in the early 1990s after entering politics while studying economics at Dhaka University and becoming a main student leader in the 1969 uprising opposing Pakistan's military rule.

He rose to prominence, becoming one of the best-known national leaders during Hasina's rule. He was repeatedly arrested. It he notes was politically motivated.

Alamgir most lately served as local administration minister but has held a number of ministerial posts, including minister of agriculture, aviation and tourism.

Shahabuddin was elected president in 2023 at the height of the Awami League's power. A close ally to Hasina and facing increasing pressure from opposition parties to step down, Shahabuddin confirmed that he was seriously ill and resigned on July 24.

Hasina fled Bangladesh after the mass uprising that ousted her administration in 2024. According to She has since been living in India but has, she intends to return home in December.

In short, bangladesh elects ruling party veteran Alamgir as president is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.