Bangladesh lawmakers began voting in parliament on Thursday to choose between Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Oli Ahmed in the country's first contested presidential election since 1991. The Daily Star reported that polling opened at 2 p.m. in Dhaka, with 349 members of parliament eligible to take part in a vote that marks an unusual competitive test for the largely ceremonial office.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, acting as election officer, explained the procedure before ballots were distributed by Election Commission staff. Voting was scheduled to run for three hours until 5 p.m. local time, after which counting was to begin inside the chamber. The commission said the candidate with the most votes would be declared the preliminary winner there, followed by an official gazette notification.
Fakhrul, a former Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general and local government minister, entered the race with the support of the governing BNP and allied parties. Retired colonel Oli Ahmed, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, was backed by an 11-party opposition alliance led by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and acting President Hafiz Uddin Ahmad were among the first lawmakers to cast ballots, according to live reports.
The contest follows the July 24 resignation of President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who cited serious illness. Parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad has performed the president's duties during the vacancy. An Associated Press account of the resignation placed it within Bangladesh's broader political transition following the 2024 uprising, 18 months of interim rule and the BNP's decisive parliamentary election victory in February 2026.
The ballot is historically significant because every Bangladeshi president since the 1991 contest had been elected unopposed after nomination by the governing party. BSS reported that the previous parliamentary contest ended with Abdur Rahman Biswas defeating Badrul Haider Chowdhury by 172 votes to 92. This time, the High Court dismissed a challenge to Article 70, the constitutional rule that can cost lawmakers their seats if they vote against their party, leaving that provision in force.
State broadcaster BTV was scheduled to televise voting and counting. Election officials said lawmakers could remain in the chamber during the count, while the new president was expected to take the oath at Bangabhaban on Friday evening. The final tally and gazette publication will determine the formal outcome of a contest that restores a parliamentary choice to the presidency after three and a half decades.
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