Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has been named as the next president of Bangladesh.
BNP chairman and prime minister Tarique Rahman has finalised his nomination, several senior leaders of the party have said.
A senior BNP leader told Daily Wada that the decision has been taken to nominate long-time secretary general Mirza Fakhrul for the post of president. A leader close to the prime minister also confirmed Fakhrul’s nomination.
Earlier, the BNP’s national standing committee vested Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s responsibility to finalise the party’s candidate for the post of president. The report claimed that the party candidate is more likely to be elected as the BNP has a majority in parliament.
Meanwhile, the BNP collected two nomination papers from the Election Commission on Sunday (August 9th). BNP vice chairman and chief whip of parliament Nurul Islam Moni and senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi collected the nomination papers from the election commission office in Agargaon.
According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission, the presidential election is due to be held on August 20th. If there are many legal candidates, there will be a vote in parliament on that day. And if Mirza Fakhrul is the only legitimate candidate, he can be declared elected without a vote.
Earlier on July 24th, Mohammad Sahabuddin resigned from the post of president and the post was vacant. After that, Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed is acting president. According to the constitution, there is a provision to complete the new presidential election within ninety days of the vacancy of the president’s post.