Bangladesh is holding its presidential election today, marking the first time in 35 years that the country will see a genuinely contested race for the largely ceremonial post. Members of parliament will gather in the Jatiya Sangsad to elect the nation’s 23rd president, in a vote that carries symbolic weight even though the outcome is widely expected to be a formality.
Who Is Voting and When
A total of 349 members of parliament are eligible to cast their votes. Voting will take place inside the session chamber of the Jatiya Sangsad between 2pm and 5pm local time, with the result expected to be announced later the same evening. Every sitting MP votes directly, since the president in Bangladesh is chosen through indirect election by parliament rather than by the general public.
How the Ballot Works
The Election Commission has explained that voting will be conducted using an open ballot system, a departure from the secrecy typically associated with elections. MPs will cast their votes from their designated seats in the chamber, and three transparent ballot boxes will be used to collect and display the ballots as they are cast. This transparent process is designed to ensure the vote is seen as credible after years of criticism over Bangladesh’s electoral institutions.
Who Is Contesting
This year’s race is notable because it is actually contested, unlike every presidential election held since 1991. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has nominated senior leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, one of the party’s most recognisable faces and currently a minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives. He is being challenged by Oli Ahmed, a former army officer nominated by the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance.
The last time Bangladesh saw a genuinely competitive presidential vote was in October 1991, when BNP’s Abdur Rahman Biswas defeated the Awami League’s nominee by 172 votes to 92. Every election since has been uncontested, with a single candidate typically elected unopposed.
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Why the Election Was Called
The vote was triggered by the resignation of former president Mohammed Shahabuddin last month. He had been elected unopposed in 2023 as an Awami League nominee and went on to serve through the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024, the subsequent interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus, and the BNP’s return to power earlier this year, before stepping down partway through his five-year term.
Once the votes are counted this evening, the winner is expected to be sworn in as early as tomorrow. While the presidency in Bangladesh holds limited executive power, today’s vote is being seen as an important marker of the country’s efforts to rebuild democratic institutions in the two years since the mass protests that ended Hasina’s 15-year rule.
Summary: Bangladesh votes today for its 23rd president in the first contested presidential race since 1991. All 349 MPs will cast open ballots in parliament between 2pm and 5pm, with BNP’s Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir facing Oli Ahmed of the Jamaat-led alliance.
