Bangladesh will hold its presidential election on Thursday (August 19, 2026), with lawmakers set to choose between the ruling BNP stalwart Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 11-party Opposition alliance candidate Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed.
The voting will take place for the first time in a presidential election after a gap of 35 years.
Mr. Alamgir appealed to the BNP lawmakers to vote for him in Thursday’s presidential election. The presidential election was necessitated after Mohammed Shahabuddin, a close aide of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, resigned last month on health grounds before completing his five-year tenure. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who is also the BNP chairman, declared Mr. Alamgir, a longtime secretary general of the BNP and a close ally of former premier Khaleda Zia, as the ruling party’s presidential candidate. The analysts also opine that Mr. Alamgir’s nomination could be a well-calculated move of BNP, which in its election manifesto had promised to equip the president with more power by amending the Constitution.
The voting will be held at the Parliament (Jatiya Sangsad) from 2:00 p.m. to 5 p.m. on August 20, according to the Election Commission. Alamgir, 78, is the candidate of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), while Colonel (retd) Ahmed, Bir Bikram, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is contesting as the candidate of the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party opposition alliance. Speaking at the BNP parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday, Mr.
