Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has been elected President of Bangladesh, becoming the country’s 23rd president after Members of Parliament cast their ballots in the first contested presidential election in 35 years.

Voting was held from 2pm to 5pm on Thursday in the Jatiya Sangsad session chamber, with Chief Election Commissioner A M M Nasir Uddin serving as the election officer.

The 78-year-old BNP candidate defeated Col (retd) Oli Ahmad, the candidate of the opposition Jamaat-led 11-party alliance.

Announcing the result, Nasir Uddin said Fakhrul received 255 votes and Oli got 88.

The BNP holds an absolute majority in Parliament and Fakhrul was widely expected to win.

Fakhrul’s election win caps a political career spanning more than five decades.

A former leftist student leader and freedom fighter, he joined the BNP during the anti-Ershad movement and was elected to Parliament from Thakurgaon-1 in 2001.

He later served as state minister for agriculture and civil aviation and tourism before becoming the BNP’s senior joint secretary general in 2009.

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

Fakhrul emerged as the BNP’s principal public voice during years of opposition under the Awami League government, facing arrests and imprisonment while leading the party through a prolonged period of political repression.

With BNP chair Khaleda Zia imprisoned and Tarique Rahman in exile, Fakhrul became the face of the party.

His conduct, even amid the AL’s government’s repeated harassment, earned him praise. His tenacity was lauded.

With BNP winning the 2026 polls in a landslide, Fakhrul secured the Thakurgaon-1 seat and would also become the Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) minister.