Bangladesh elects Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir president

Bangladesh lawmakers elected Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as president on Thursday, filling a largely ceremonial office left vacant by Mohammed Shahabuddin's early resignation in July.

Chief Election Commissioner A M M Nasir Uddin said Alamgir, 78, won 255 votes to become Bangladesh's 23rd president. Oli Ahmad, nominated by the opposition 11-party alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami, received 88 votes.

Alamgir is secretary-general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and local government minister. Before the vote, he said, according to state news agency BSS, that he dreamed of “a happy, prosperous, and welfare-oriented state” where marginalised people, workers and daily wage earners could afford two meals a day.

The vote was the first Bangladesh presidential contest in 35 years with more than one candidate. The previous presidential election involving a parliamentary vote was held in 1991.

China congratulated Alamgir, with its high commission in Dhaka saying it looked forward to “a shared future in the new era”.

Shahabuddin, 76, a close ally of Sheikh Hasina, had been elected in 2023 and was due to serve until 2028. He resigned citing ill health after facing pressure to quit.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's BNP won a landslide victory in February, in the first elections since a 2024 uprising ousted Hasina's government. Hasina remains in hiding in India after refusing to attend her trial in Dhaka, where in November she was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to be hanged.

Alamgir entered politics while studying economics at Dhaka University and was a student leader in the 1969 uprising against Pakistani military rule. He later served in government and held ministerial posts including agriculture, aviation and tourism.

As president, Alamgir will be head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.