Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Thursday congratulated Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir with a red rose immediately after the BNP candidate was declared elected as Bangladesh’s 23rd president.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin announced the results at 5:20pm, declaring him duly elected after obtaining the highest number of votes.
His opponent, Col (retd) Oli Ahmad, representing the 11-party alliance including Jamaat-e-Islami, received 88 votes.
The entire chamber cheered as lawmakers thumped their tables to congratulate Fakhrul, who raised his hands in salute.
Opposition Leader Shafiqur Rahman and Deputy Opposition Leader Syed Abdullah Mohammed Taher, along with other opposition lawmakers, approached the treasury bench, where the new president stepped forward from his seat to embrace the opposition leader.
Tarique then joined them, embracing both Fakhrul and Shafiqur. Other lawmakers also walked up to shake hands with the president.
Fakhrul subsequently shook hands with Nasir Uddin, who conducted the election, and offered greetings to other officials.
The voting took place from 2pm to 5pm, with the counting of votes starting at 5:02pm.
Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni and Opposition Whip Nahid Islam, acting as agents for the respective candidates, were present during the counting alongside Whips Mia Nur Uddin Ahmed Apu and Rokibul Islam Bakul.
According to the election official, there were 243 valid ballots, and six ballots were unused. Out of 349 voters, six MPs abstained from voting.
Among those absent were Dhaka-8 lawmaker Mirza Abbas and Chattagram-3 lawmaker Mostafa Kamal Pasha, both of whom had written to the acting speaker to explain their absence due to illness.
Kishoreganj-3 lawmaker Muhammad Osman Faruk was also absent. Additionally, controversial Jamaat lawmaker from Satkhira-4 Gazi Nazrul Islam, candidate and Brahmanbaria-2 independent lawmaker Rumeen Farhana, and Barguna-2 lawmaker MD Oli Ullah of Islami Andolan Bangladesh were among the other absentees.
