BNP names Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir for Bangladesh presidential poll

Dhaka,UPDATED: Aug 13, 2026 20:22 IST

The ruling Bangladesh ist Party on Thursday nominated its longtime secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as its candidate for the presidential election scheduled on August 20. The election was necessitated after Mohammed Shahabuddin resigned last month on health grounds before completing his five-year term.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who is also the BNP chairman, announced Alamgir's name at a meeting of the party's standing committee, setting the stage for his election as the next head of state. The 78-year-old leader resigned as secretary general and from the party's highest policy-making standing committee after his nomination, senior BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said.

"It is with great pleasure that I announce on behalf of the Bangladesh ist Party that our dedicated secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, has become the BNP's presidential candidate," Rizvi said. Under the Election Commission's schedule, Alamgir had to submit his nomination papers by 4 pm on Thursday.

Bangladesh's main opposition Jamaat-e-Islami has also fielded Liberal Democratic Party chairman Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmad, an alliance partner. Ahmad has already submitted his nomination papers to the Election Commission.

Under the Constitution, a new president must be elected within 90 days of the office falling vacant. Parliamentary Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad is currently serving as acting president, as required under the Constitution. The president is elected by Parliament, and the BNP, which returned to power in the February 12 elections, currently has a two-thirds majority in the House, putting Alamgir in a strong position in the contest.

If elected, Alamgir will become Bangladesh's 23rd president. He has been among the BNP's most prominent leaders for more than two decades, serving as acting secretary general from 2011 before formally taking over the post in 2016. He played a key role in leading the party during the imprisonment of then chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia and while Rahman was abroad. An economist by training, Alamgir began his political career as a left-leaning student activist when Bangladesh was still East Pakistan. After joining the BNP in the early 1990s, he served as state minister for agriculture and civil aviation. When the BNP returned to power in the February 12 elections this year, he was made local government minister.

Under Bangladesh's parliamentary system, the president is largely a ceremonial head of state, though the office carries constitutional powers such as appointing the prime minister and the chief justice. The president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces, but those powers are generally exercised on the advice of the prime minister. Political analysts said the presidency could gain greater importance under the caretaker government system recently reintroduced to oversee general elections, when the president's powers in commanding the armed forces would increase significantly. They also said Alamgir's nomination could be a calculated move by the BNP, which had promised in its election manifesto to strengthen the presidency through constitutional amendments.

Shahabuddin, a 1971 Liberation War veteran and former lower judiciary judge, was elected president by the previous Parliament and was the only person still in his constitutional post after the violent July-August 2024 student-led protests that toppled Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government. Although the 76-year-old cited health complications as the reason for stepping down, his resignation came amid speculation that Rahman's government was uncomfortable with him. Some reports had claimed that Shahabuddin spoke to Hasina by phone, a claim he dismissed as "baseless". Hasina fled to India and has been living there since August 5, 2024.

With the election due on August 20 and the BNP holding a clear majority in Parliament, Alamgir's nomination marks a key development in Bangladesh's presidential race after Shahabuddin's resignation and the vacancy in the office.

With PTI Inputs

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