Presidential election set to break 35-year run of unopposed contests as Jamaat enters race

Bangladesh is heading towards its first contested presidential election in nearly 35 years following the Jamaat-e-Islami's decision to participate in the upcoming race, raising the prospect of ending a decades-long pattern of presidents being elected unopposed.

The ruling BNP today (9 August) collected two nomination forms for the upcoming presidential election.

Meanwhile, the opposition alliance led by Jamaat nominated Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Chairman Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmad as its candidate, following Jamaat's decision yesterday to participate in the election scheduled for 20 August.

The decision has brought the 1991 presidential election back into focus, as it was the last time lawmakers voted between rival candidates for the country's presidency.

Nomination papers will be submitted on 13 August, with scrutiny scheduled for 16 August and the deadline for withdrawal of candidature set for 18 August.

If more than one valid candidate remains, MPs will vote in parliament from 2pm to 5pm on 20 August. There will be no voting if only one candidate remains.

The last contest: 1991

Bangladesh restored the parliamentary form of government through the 12th Amendment to the Constitution in September 1991 following the fall of Hussain Muhammad Ershad and the parliamentary election earlier that year.

With the change, the president was once again to be elected by members of parliament rather than through a direct public vote.

In October 1991, then-ruling BNP nominated Abdur Rahman Biswas for the presidency, while the main opposition Awami League fielded former chief justice Badrul Haider Chowdhury.

Unlike every presidential election that would follow, both nominees remained in the race and MPs had to cast their votes.

It remains the only contested presidential election held since Bangladesh returned to the parliamentary system.

Biswas served as president until 1996 and became the first president to complete a five-year term at Bangabhaban following the restoration of parliamentary democracy.

Unopposed ever since

No presidential election since the Biswas-Badrul contest has required lawmakers to choose between competing candidates.

In 1996, former chief justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, nominated by the Awami League, was elected without a contest. He had earlier served as acting president during the transition following Ershad's fall before returning to his post as chief justice in 1991.

After the BNP returned to power, AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury was elected president unopposed in 2001. His tenure ended the following year when he resigned after the BNP parliamentary party expressed no confidence in him.

The BNP then nominated Iajuddin Ahmed, who became president without a contest in 2002. He remained at Bangabhaban until February 2009, staying beyond his original five-year tenure amid a political crisis and a delay in the parliamentary election.

The pattern continued after the Awami League returned to power following the 2008 general election.

Zillur Rahman was elected president unopposed in 2009. Following his death in March 2013, Abdul Hamid was elected president without a rival in April that year.

Hamid was elected for another term in 2018, again unopposed.

In 2023, Awami League nominee Mohammed Shahabuddin also faced no opponent and was elected president unopposed.

Shahabuddin resigned from the presidency on 24 July this year, creating the vacancy that led the Election Commission to schedule the upcoming election.

Under Article 48 of the Constitution, the president is elected by members of parliament in accordance with law.

Jamaat's entry into the race now raises the prospect of lawmakers voting between rival presidential candidates for the first time in almost three and a half decades.