In Brief:
- Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was elected 23rd President of Bangladesh.
- Alamgir secured 255 votes in the Jatiya Sangsad, defeating Col. (Retd.) Oli Ahmad, who received 88 votes.
- This marks Bangladesh’s first contested presidential election in 35 years (since 1991).
Veteran Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was elected as Bangladesh’s 23rd President on Thursday, 20 August 2026, winning 255 votes in a historic parliamentary vote at the Jatiya Sangsad. The 78-year-old leader defeated opposition candidate Col. (Retd.) Oli Ahmad, backed by an 11-party alliance led by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP), who secured 88 votes out of 343 ballots cast under the supervision of Chief Election Commissioner ASM Nasir Uddin.
Marking the country’s first contested presidential election in 35 years (since 1991), the vote was necessitated by the resignation of former President Mohammed Shahabuddin due to health reasons following a political transition that saw the BNP return to power with a two-thirds majority in the 350-seat parliament (349 functional). Following his nomination, Alamgir resigned as BNP Secretary General and from its Standing Committee to assume the presidency within the constitutionally mandated 90-day window.
