Last Updated on August 10, 2026 9:51 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
Veteran Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is set to become Bangladesh’s next president, with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman finalising his name as the ruling party’s candidate for the August 20 presidential election, according to senior BNP sources.
Fakhrul, currently the BNP secretary general and minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, has also signed the consent statement required for a presidential candidate. The BNP is expected to formally announce his candidature before nominations close on August 13.
The BNP’s highest policymaking body had earlier authorised Tarique, who is both prime minister and party chairman, to choose the presidential candidate.
“The Standing Committee has entrusted the Prime Minister and BNP Chairman to take the necessary decisions regarding the presidential election and select the party’s nominee,” Fakhrul had said after the meeting.
For Indian readers, unlike India, where the president is elected by an electoral college comprising elected MPs and MLAs, Bangladesh’s president is elected by members of the Jatiya Sangsad, or national parliament. The BNP holds a commanding majority in the House, making its nominee the overwhelming favourite to win.
Fakhrul has been at the centre of BNP politics for more than a decade, particularly during the years when former prime minister Khaleda Zia was out of active politics and Tarique lived in exile. He became acting secretary general in 2011 and was formally appointed secretary general in 2016. Before entering national politics, Fakhrul worked as a teacher and later served as chairman of Thakurgaon municipality. He was elected to parliament from Thakurgaon-1 in 2001 and served as a junior minister in the BNP government between 2001 and 2006.
His expected move to Bangabhaban, the presidential palace, would also trigger changes in both the government and the BNP leadership, as Fakhrul would have to relinquish his ministerial and party posts after becoming president.
Oli Ahmed enters race for opposition
Fakhrul, however, is unlikely to have an uncontested path to Bangabhaban. The Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party opposition alliance on Monday collected a nomination form for Liberal Democratic Party chairman Col (retd) Oli Ahmed to contest the August 20 election, setting the stage for a rare presidential contest in Bangladesh.
Representatives of the alliance collected the papers from the returning officer’s office at the Election Commission headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka. Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin is serving as returning officer for the election.
Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Hamidur Rahman Azad said the alliance had decided to contest irrespective of its chances of victory, arguing that having more than one candidate was important for democratic practice.
“Two days ago, the party decided we will contest. Winning or losing is not the issue here. We are bringing forward a democratic process,” Azad said.
He also accused the ruling BNP of “duplicity” over the presidential election.
“Here too, BNP has shown duplicity with the state and the people, and we want to place that before the nation,” he said.
Azad linked the presidential contest to a wider dispute between the government and opposition over implementation of the July Charter, a package of political and constitutional reforms that was put to a referendum alongside Bangladesh’s February parliamentary election.
“We made a July Charter. A directive was issued on it, a referendum was held, and the people gave their verdict. But BNP did not implement that verdict,” he alleged.
The Jamaat leader also criticised Article 70 of the Bangladesh Constitution, which provides that an MP elected on a party ticket loses his seat if he votes in parliament against that party.
“On one hand, you give them voting rights, but on the other, you impose restrictions and controls on those rights,” Azad said.
Describing the presidency as the “highest office of the state”, he said electing a president without a contest would weaken democratic practice.
“That is why we want to restore the democratic process,” he added.
The presidential election was called after Mohammed Shahabuddin resigned on July 24. Nomination papers can be filed until August 13, with scrutiny scheduled for August 16 and the deadline for withdrawal set for August 18. If more than one valid candidate remains, MPs will vote in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban from 2pm to 5pm on August 20.
A Fakhrul-Oli contest would be particularly significant for Bangladesh. The last presidential election in which MPs had to choose between rival candidates was in 1991, after the country restored the parliamentary system. BNP nominee Abdur Rahman Biswas then defeated Awami League candidate Badrul Haider Chowdhury. Every subsequent president has been elected without a competitive parliamentary ballot.
With the BNP’s large majority in parliament, Fakhrul remains firmly positioned to become the country’s next head of state. Oli’s entry, however, means the road to Bangabhaban could involve an actual vote for the first time in nearly 35 years.