BNP settles on Fakhrul for presidency

BNP Secretary General and Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is poised to become Bangladesh’s next president after BNP Chairman and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman finalised his nomination, according to a senior party leader familiar with the decision.

The leader, who is also a cabinet member, said Fakhrul’s name had almost certainly been settled by Tarique, confirming the longtime secretary general as the party’s choice.

Several other senior BNP figures said the final decision rested solely with Tarique and that they had not been formally informed.

Only one leader close to the prime minister confirmed the selection.

The development came as the BNP formally began preparations for the presidential election, collecting two nomination papers from the Election Commission on Sunday.

BNP Vice Chairman and Jatiya Sangsad Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni and Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi collected the papers from the returning officer’s office at the EC

headquarters in Agargaon.
The BNP’s National Standing Committee had earlier entrusted Tarique with selecting the presidential candidate.

With the party commanding a parliamentary majority, its nominee is effectively assured of becoming Bangladesh’s 23rd president unless there is an unexpected shift in support.

The Election Commission has scheduled the election for 20 August, with voting in Parliament, if required, from 2pm to 5pm.

If Fakhrul is the only validly nominated candidate, he could be declared elected unopposed.

The presidency became vacant after Mohammed Shahabuddin resigned on 24 July.

Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad has since been performing the functions of acting president.

Under the Constitution and the President Election Act, 1991, an election must be held within 90 days of the vacancy.

Opening at the top of BNP
Fakhrul’s expected move to Bangabhaban would create one of the BNP’s most consequential organisational vacancies in more than a decade.

He became acting secretary general in 2011 and was formally appointed in 2016.

He developed a reputation as a moderate who helped hold together competing factions while Khaleda Zia was imprisoned and Tarique remained abroad.

Repeated speculation about his replacement had previously failed to materialise.

His departure would force the BNP to decide who leads the organisation ahead of a possible national council later this year or early next year.

Rizvi is among the names being discussed as a possible successor, with party insiders suggesting an acting secretary general could be appointed before the leadership question is settled at the council.

BNP’s mixed presidential record
Tarique’s decision carries added significance given the BNP’s mixed experience in choosing presidents.

After Ziaur Rahman’s assassination in May 1981, Vice-President Abdus Sattar, a 78-year-old retired judge, assumed the presidency and later contested the election.

His candidacy exposed tensions between former military officers loyal to Zia and civilian leaders wary of military influence.

Army chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad backed Sattar while seeking greater military influence.

Khaleda Zia, then newly widowed, was also reportedly floated as a candidate by some military figures but declined, backing Sattar for party unity.

Sattar won, but four months later Ershad seized power in a coup and the BNP fractured.

After returning to power in 2001, the BNP chose veteran politician AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury as president.

He lasted seven months before resigning after BNP lawmakers accused him of excessive neutrality, including not visiting Ziaur Rahman’s grave on his death anniversary, and of developing an identity independent of the party.

The party then selected university professor Iajuddin Ahmed, who later became chief adviser to the caretaker government ahead of the 2006 elections.

The ensuing political crisis culminated in the January 2007 declaration of emergency and a military-backed caretaker government, known as “1/11”.

The exception was Abdur Rahman Biswas, elected president with BNP backing in 1991. In May 1996, amid an attempted challenge by army chief Lt Gen Abu Saleh Mohammad Nasim, Biswas dismissed senior military officers and acted to preserve constitutional order.

A consequential choice
The Constitution gives the president limited powers in ordinary governance, with executive authority resting with the prime minister and cabinet.

The office can, however, become far more consequential during political transitions or institutional crises.

Fakhrul’s expected nomination would place a veteran BNP politician, with extensive party and government experience, in that position.

His political stature and independent judgement could prove valuable, but also make the choice more consequential than that of a largely non-political figure.

For Tarique, the nomination is therefore not simply about filling a vacant constitutional office.

It could also shape the BNP’s internal leadership and how the government responds if political conditions become unpredictable during the president’s term.