BNP's Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir elected as Bangladesh's new President

He will take the oath as Bangladesh's 23rd President on Friday evening at the Darbar Hall of Bangabhaban.

While usually presidents in Bangladesh have been elected through a consensus, this was the first presidential election in 35 years that saw an election with the Jamaat also putting up a candidate.

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. Every presidential election since then had been uncontested, drawing no challengers to the ruling party’s candidate.

Bangladesh's Parliament has elected Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as president after the former president's resignation

Alamgir secured 255 votes in Thursday's presidential election held at the Jatiya Sangsad, Bangladesh's Parliament. His rival, Oli Ahmed, the candidate backed by an 11-party opposition alliance led by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP), received 88 votes. The voting took place between 2 pm a

BNP candidate defeats Jamaat-led alliance nominee Oli Ahmed, who secured 88 votes in the presidential election