The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has officially nominated its secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, as its candidate for the 23rd presidency of Bangladesh.
The decision was finalized on August 13 during a meeting at the Secretariat between senior party leaders, chaired by BNP Chairman and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. Following the meeting, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi formally announced the nomination.
Shortly after the announcement, preparations were made to submit Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s nomination papers to the Election Commission. Consequently, he resigned from his post as the Secretary General of BNP.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was elected as a Member of Parliament from the Thakurgaon-1 constituency in the 13th National Parliamentary Election and was serving as the Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives in Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s cabinet. He became the acting secretary general of BNP in 2011 and was officially appointed as the secretary general during the party’s national council in 2016, leading the party through critical political transitions over the past decade.
The presidential post became vacant after former President Mohammad Shahabuddin resigned on July 24 following the fall of the Awami League government. Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad has since been serving as the acting president. According to the schedule declared by the Election Commission, nomination papers must be submitted by 4:00 PM today, with voting scheduled for August 20 if multiple candidates remain after scrutiny and withdrawal.
Meanwhile, the 11-party alliance led by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has nominated Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Chairman Colonel (Retd) Oli Ahmad for the presidency. However, with the BNP holding a two-thirds majority in the National Parliament, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s election as the country’s next president remains virtually certain.
