EC issues gazette declaring Shahabuddin as President

Staff Reporter :
A former Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Mohammad Shahabuddin, has been elected unopposed as the 22nd President of Bangladesh.
The Election Commission (EC) on Monday issued a gazette signed by EC’s acting Secretary of Helaluddin Ahmad mentioning him as the ‘elected President of Bangladesh’. “If Allah gives me life till the general election, I want to see a free and fair poll. This is my ultimate expectation,” the newly elected President Mohammad Shahabuddin said this in a reaction to the journalists in Gulshan on Monday.
Calling upon the opposition parties to give suggestions to make the upcoming elections acceptable, he said, “I will call on all the opposition parties – come and give suggestions for an acceptable poll.”
People are the owner of the country, Mohammad Shahabuddin said, adding: “I have a request to the people ahead of national election – choose the party that supports the Liberation War. According to Article 7 of the Constitution, it is clearly stated that the people own the country. So, people should come forward to exercise their right to vote and form a government.”
Earlier, while briefing the journalists at the Election Commission, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal announced that the Awami League (AL) nominated presidential candidate Mohammad Shahabuddin was elected unopposed as no other candidate submitted nomination.
Only one person had submitted nomination paper for presidential candidate and the EC found Mohammad Shahabuddin’s papers valid, the CEC said, adding that the EC announced Shahabuddin elected as the next President of Bangladesh.
 “Mohammad Shahabuddin was elected as President of Bangladesh as per Section 7 of the Presidential Election Act 1991. We will send related papers for publishing gazette in this regard by today,” he said.
The new President will hold office for five years from the date of assumption of office.
Md Abdul Hamid, the incumbent President, assumed office on April 24, 2018 and his five-year tenure will end on April 23, 2023.
Born in 1949 in Pabna, freedom fighter Shahabuddin retired as a District Judge in 2006 and served as Commissioner of the ACC between 2011 and 2016.