Dhaka, Feb 13, (dpa/GNA) – Bangladesh’s election authorities, declared retired judge Mohammed Shahabuddin the next president of the South Asian country, after no other candidate was put forward.
Kazi Habibul Awal, the chief election commissioner, made the announcement on Monday.
Voting in parliament had been set to take place on February 19 but as Shahabuddin was the only candidate to submit valid papers on time, he was elected unopposed for a five-year term, the commissioner said.
Shahabuddin, the nominee of the ruling Awami League party, will succeed Abdul Hamid, the head of the state since 2013.
No other political party filed candidature for the presidential election, in which members of the 350-strong parliament are the voters.
Hamid’s tenure will be expired on April 23.
Bangladesh’s constitution stipulates that the presidential election be conducted within 60 to 90 days, prior to the completion of the tenure of the incumbent president.
Born in 1949 in the northern Bangladeshi town of Pabna, Shahbuddin retired as a judge in 2006, and later served as a commissioner at the anti-graft watchdog, Anti-Corruption Commission, from 2011 to 2016.
Prior to his presidential candidature, he was a member of the Awami League’s advisory council.
GNA