He defeated challenger Oli Ahmed of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party by 255 votes to 88 to become President. Bangladesh has a new President-elect, veteran politician Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir , who belongs to the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
“We want to send a clear message to the Indian government that a treaty must be implemented immediately through discussions according to the expectations and needs of Bangladesh’s people,” Alamgir said.
His resignation meant that Hasina, lost a trusted ally in the establishment at home. Alamgir’s election is unlikely to be good news for former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina , who is currently in exile in India and plans to return to her country in December this year. Last month, Mohammed Shahabuddin, who took office during Hasina’s rule, resigned as Bangladesh president halfway through his term following years of political turbulence. He urged the Indian government to implement the treaty in accordance with the needs of the Bangladeshi people.
Alamgir was a long-time secretary-general of the BNP and led the political movement against Hasina’s 15-year rule. She fled the country in August 2024 during a mass uprising over allegations of authoritarian rule and corruption in the allocation of government jobs. In December 2024, while addressing a BNP rally in London, Alamgir criticised India over the attack on Bangladesh’s Assistant High Commission in Agartala and protests outside Bangladeshi diplomatic missions, according to an Indian Express report. He also accused India of supporting Hasina, who fled to India after her government was ousted in 2024. Earlier reporting noted: A total of 349 members of Parliament were eligible to vote in what was the first contested presidential election since Oct. 1991, when the nation became a parliamentary democracy. Earlier reporting noted: Alamgir was a long-time secretary-general of BNP and steered the political movement against the 15-year rule of Hasina. She fled the country in August 2024 during a mass uprising over allegations of autocratic rule and corruption in the allocation of government jobs, and her party has been barred from politics since last year.
Alamgir has also taken a tough stand on the Indo-Bangladesh Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, signed in 1996, which is due to expire in December.
In May this year, he said that Bangladesh’s relations with India would depend on the treaty.
Her party has been barred from politics since last year. Earlier reporting noted: Bangladesh elects veteran politician Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as president Bangladesh’s Parliament elected a stalwart of the country’s new ruling party to the presidency Thursday after the post fell vacant last month following the resignation of the former president, who was a close ally of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Every presidential election since then had been uncontested, drawing no challengers to the ruling party’s candidate.
