Presidential election set for Thursday as no candidate withdraws

The presidential election will be held on Thursday as neither of the two candidates withdrew their nomination within the stipulated deadline.

This will be the first contested presidential election in nearly 35 years, with more than one candidate in the race.

Election Commission Secretary Akhter Ahmed announced the development at the Election Commission building on Tuesday after the nomination withdrawal deadline expired at 4pm.

He said BNP and like-minded parties’ candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 11-party alliance candidate Col (retd) Oli Ahmed had both retained their candidacies.

Voting will take place from 2pm to 5pm on August 20, with the initial results to be announced immediately after counting, Akhter said.

Chief Election Commissioner A M M Nasir Uddin, acting as the presidential election officer, will brief MPs on the voting procedure before polling begins.

A total of 349 MPs will vote in the election, as the Chattogram-4 seat remains vacant following the cancellation of the elected candidate’s candidature by a court order.

The EC announced the election schedule on August 6 after the 22nd president, Mohammed Shahabuddin, resigned on July 24 citing health reasons.

Since there is no single candidate this time, voting will take place for the first presidential election since 1991.