Bangladesh elects new president

On August 20, the Parliament of Bangladesh elected Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the country’s new president.

TodayPress TV reports, citing The Daily Star, that Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the candidate of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), won the parliamentary vote with 255 votes. His rival, Oli Ahmed, received 88 votes.

It should be noted that in Bangladesh, a parliamentary republic, the head of state is elected by members of the legislature. The country’s previous president, Mohammed Shahabuddin Chuppu, resigned on July 24 due to health problems. Chuppu had stated last December that he was under pressure from the interim government and had announced his resignation.

In accordance with the Constitution, Speaker of Parliament Hafiz Ahmed had been performing the duties of head of state until a new president was elected.

Turkan Iskandarli