New president Mirza Fakhrul to take oath this evening

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will take oath as the country’s 23rd president at a ceremony at Bangabhaban on Friday evening (August 21), marking his formal assumption of office after winning the country’s first contested presidential election in 35 years.

The oath-taking ceremony is scheduled to begin at 7:30pm, Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni told the media. Preparations have been completed at Bangabhaban for the ceremony.

Fakhrul, a former BNP secretary general and the party’s presidential nominee, was elected by lawmakers on Thursday, defeating his rival Col (retd) Oli Ahmad by 167 votes.

Voting took place at the Jatiya Sangsad chamber from 2pm to 5pm during a special parliamentary session. Of the 349 lawmakers eligible to vote, 343 cast their ballots.

Fakhrul secured 255 votes, while Oli Ahmed, the candidate backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance, received 88 votes. Six lawmakers did not vote for various reasons, Chief Election Commissioner and presidential election officer A M M Nasir Uddin said.

Following the vote count, the Election Commission formally declared Fakhrul elected as president and issued a gazette notification on Thursday evening.

The notification, signed by Election Commission Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed, said Fakhrul was declared elected under Section 11 of the Presidential Election Act, 1991, based on the declaration made by the election officer.