Bangladesh is holding its first contested presidential election in 35 years, with ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir facing former army officer Oli Ahmad, the nominee of the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party opposition alliance.
According to Al Jazeera, 349 members of parliament are eligible to vote in the parliamentary chamber between 8:00 GMT and 11:00 GMT on Thursday, with the result expected later in the day.
The election was triggered by the resignation last month of Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed in 2023 as a nominee of the then-ruling Awami League.
Shahabuddin stepped down halfway through his five-year term after serving through Sheikh Hasina’s removal in August 2024, the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus, and the BNP’s return to power in February.
Thursday’s election is the first contested presidential poll since October 1991, when BNP candidate Abdur Rahman Biswas defeated Awami League nominee Badrul Haider Chowdhury by 172 votes to 92. All subsequent presidential elections were uncontested.
The outcome is, however, widely regarded as a foregone conclusion. Of the 349 eligible lawmakers, 247 belong to the BNP, while 90 are members of the Jamaat-led opposition alliance, giving Alamgir a decisive numerical advantage.
Despite the predictable result, the election carries symbolic importance as Bangladesh continues to reshape its political institutions two years after the 2024 uprising that ended Hasina’s 15-year rule.
Who Are the Candidates?
Alamgir, 78, is one of the BNP’s most prominent figures. He became the party’s acting secretary-general in 2011 and was formally appointed to the position in 2016, emerging as one of its leading public faces during years in opposition.
Following the BNP’s victory in this year’s election, Alamgir was appointed minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives.
At a BNP parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday, he thanked Prime Minister Tarique Rahman for nominating him and pledged to protect Bangladesh’s independence and sovereignty. Rahman subsequently urged BNP lawmakers to support his candidacy.
His opponent, retired Colonel Oli Ahmad, 85, is a decorated veteran of Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party and a six-time former member of parliament.
Ahmad, once a close associate of former President Ziaur Rahman, joined the BNP in 1980 after leaving the military the previous year. He later served as communications minister under former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia before founding the Liberal Democratic Party in 2006.
His nomination is politically notable because his principal backer, Jamaat-e-Islami, opposed Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 and sided with Pakistan during the war, while Ahmad fought for Bangladesh’s independence.
Although Ahmad faces little prospect of victory, the opposition alliance has presented him as an experienced and broadly acceptable candidate, ensuring that the presidency will be decided through an actual vote.
Limited Powers for the President
Bangladesh’s constitution designates the president as head of state but gives the office limited independent executive authority. Under Article 48(3), the president is generally required to act on the prime minister’s advice, except in matters including the appointment of the prime minister and chief justice.
Political scientist Ali Riaz, who served as co-chair of the National Consensus Commission on state reforms under the Yunus-led interim government, told Al Jazeera that while the return of a contested presidential election was welcome, its practical significance should not be overstated.
Riaz said the election was significant because it would place a figure who had been involved in the democratic movement in the presidency, but stressed that the office itself had limited powers.
He also noted that the July National Charter on reforms, agreed by political parties after the 2024 uprising and ratified through a referendum during this year’s election, proposed electing the president through members of both houses of parliament.
However, plans for an upper parliamentary chamber with significant powers over key constitutional and statutory institutions have yet to be implemented.
Riaz therefore questioned the significance of a vote in which the ruling party already has enough lawmakers to determine the outcome, describing the election as more of a political ritual than a substantive contest.
Questions Over the Voting Process
The election has also revived debate over Bangladesh’s political reforms, particularly among families of more than 1,400 people reportedly killed by security forces during the 2024 uprising.
Sanjida Khan Deepti, whose 17-year-old son Shahriar Khan Anas was killed during the uprising, told Al Jazeera that the presidential election should have taken place earlier but welcomed the fact that it was now being held.
However, she questioned whether lawmakers should be bound by their political parties when casting their votes.
The issue is linked to Article 70 of the constitution, which can cost lawmakers their parliamentary seats if they vote against their party.
For Deepti and other families affected by the uprising, the question goes beyond the choice between two presidential candidates and touches on the broader struggle for democratic reform.
Despite its limited constitutional powers and an outcome that appears largely predictable, Thursday’s election represents a rare moment in Bangladesh’s political history.
For the first time in more than three decades, lawmakers will have two candidates to choose from for the country’s highest ceremonial office.
(Al Jazeera)
