BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is set to be nominated as the party’s candidate for Bangladesh’s next president, according to several members of the BNP Standing Committee.
Prime Minister and BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman has finalised Fakhrul’s nomination, with the party expected to make the decision official on 12 August, the party leaders said on Sunday.
Fakhrul, who currently serves as minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, was earlier entrusted with selecting the party’s presidential candidate and handling other election-related matters.
The BNP also collected two nomination papers for the presidential election from the returning officer’s office on Sunday. Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni and Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi collected the forms on behalf of the party.
Meanwhile, the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party opposition alliance has nominated LDP Chairman Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed as its presidential candidate.
The Election Commission has scheduled the presidential election for 20 August. Candidates must submit nomination papers by 13 August, while scrutiny will take place on 16 August and withdrawals will be allowed until 18 August.
As the BNP holds a two-thirds majority in parliament, its nominee is widely expected to win if the party maintains its parliamentary strength.
The election follows the resignation of President Mohammed Shahabuddin on 24 July, citing serious illness. Under the Constitution, a new president must be elected within 90 days of the office becoming vacant.
Fakhrul, born in Thakurgaon in 1948, began his career as a college lecturer before entering active politics. He joined the BNP in the early 1990s and became the party’s secretary general in 2016, a position he continues to hold.
