Why is Bangladesh having a contested presidential election after 35 years?
Bangladesh will elect its 23rd president in Parliament tomorrow, August 20, with BNP and Jamaat both fielding candidates. The contest comes after 35 years in which only one parliamentary presidential election was contested, while Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League governments repeatedly placed senior party figures or close political associates in Bangabhaban through uncontested votes.
In a Nutshell:
- Bangladesh’s first presidential election was held in Parliament in 1974, with Awami League nominee Mohammad Mohammadullah elected unopposed. The 1975 Fourth Amendment then introduced a presidential system and direct public elections.
- Direct presidential elections followed in 1978, 1981 and 1986, all with multiple candidates. The 1986 election was boycotted by BNP and Awami League, while HM Ershad won 84 percent of the vote against 12 contenders.
- Parliamentary democracy returned in 1991 after Ershad’s fall, and the president again became an MP elected office. BNP nominee Abdur Rahman Biswas defeated Awami League nominee Badrul Haider Chowdhury by 172 votes to 92, with 66 MPs abstaining.
- That October 1991 vote remains the only contested presidential election under parliamentary government. The next seven elections, in 1996, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2013, 2018 and 2023, were all uncontested, with ruling party nominees elected each time.
- During Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League rule, Zillur Rahman was elected in 2009, Abdul Hamid in 2013 and 2018, and Mohammed Shahabuddin in 2023. Zillur was a senior Awami League leader, Hamid was a longtime party politician and former Speaker, and Shahabuddin was an Awami League Advisory Council member and longtime Hasina ally.
- The August 20 election has two candidates, but Mirza Fakhrul is most likely to win the presidential election as Article 70 still requires party nominated MPs to back their party candidate or risk losing their seats.
Context
Bangladesh will elect its 23rd president in Parliament tomorrow, August 20, following former President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s resignation on July 24. BNP and Jamaat have both nominated candidates, making this only the second contested presidential election since parliamentary democracy returned in 1991. When the 12th Amendment restored parliamentary government in 1991, presidential elections returned to Parliament, but voting was made open and Article 70 continued to restrict MPs from voting against their parties. With the ruling party controlling the parliamentary majority, this made it difficult for an opposition presidential candidate to have a realistic path to victory. During Sheikh Hasina’s rule, this worked in the Awami League party’s favor as all four presidential elections went uncontested with all Presidents - Zillur Rahman, Abdul Hamid and Mohammed Shahabuddin- having established Awami League links. The July Charter now proposes secret presidential voting and greater presidential authority over appointments to several state institutions. BNP has pledged to implement the Charter, but the constitutional changes required for those powers have yet to be enacted, making this election an early test of whether the presidency will remain largely dependent on the ruling party or gain greater institutional independence.
Why it matters
What has changed this time is that there is an opposition party that is contesting the presidential elections. Opposition parties were not barred from presidential elections after 1991, but they repeatedly chose not to field candidates against ruling party nominees who had the parliamentary numbers to win. Jamaat and its 11 party alliance have put forward Oli Ahmad against BNP nominee Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, ending a 35 year run of uncontested presidential polls. The numbers still heavily favour the ruling party. BNP has 247 of the 349 MPs eligible to vote, compared with Jamaat’s 77, and Article 70 restricts party nominated MPs from voting against their party. So the contest gives MPs an alternative candidate without removing the parliamentary mechanism that has allowed ruling parties to determine the outcome. That is also why the Hasina era matters to this election. Zillur Rahman, Abdul Hamid and Mohammed Shahabuddin all had established Awami League connections before becoming president, and all three were elected unopposed. Their appointments were not unlawful, but repeatedly filling Bangabhaban with figures closely associated with the ruling party raised a basic institutional concern about the presidency’s independence. BNP now has a chance to address that problem through the July Charter, which it signed and which proposes a secret presidential ballot and greater presidential authority over appointments to several state institutions. Yet BNP is holding tomorrow’s election under the existing system and has kept Article 70 in force. That leaves a clear question over whether BNP’s approach to the presidency will actually differ from the model it criticised under Awami League rule.
What we think
Mirza Fakhrul is expected to win tomorrow, but the result alone will not tell us whether the presidency has changed. The important question is whether BNP follows through on the July Charter after the election by introducing secret voting and giving the president a stronger role in appointing officials to key institutions including the National Human Rights Commission, Information Commission and Bangladesh Bank. If those reforms are implemented, the president would have more room to act independently of the government than any other previous presidents. Otherwise, the election will have produced a new president without addressing the institutional problem behind decades of uncontested polls.