Bangladesh: Ruling Awami League nominates ex-judicial officer Mohammed Sahabuddin for president's post

NEW DELHI: Bangladesh's ruling Awami League nominated former judicial officer Mohammed Sahabuddin as its presidential candidate, party president and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced on Sunday.

Ruling Awami League holds an absolute majority in Parliament, and in all likelihood, 74-year-old Sahabuddin will replace President Mohammad Abdul Hamid, whose tenure ends on April 24.

Accompanied by an Awami League delegation led by general secretary and minister Obaidul Quader, Md Shahabuddin filed his nomination at the Election Commission.

The nomination process ends at 4pm on Sunday while the election is scheduled to take place on February 19, if any other candidate files nomination.

An EC spokesman said they would now accomplish the procedural formalities for the election by the members of parliament.

EC officials and political analysts said Sahabuddin's installation as the 22nd president of Bangladesh was now a matter of mere formalities as the official Opposition in Parliament, Jatiya Party, decided to nominate none for the highest office.

The main Opposition outside Parliament, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), cannot nominate anyone since all of its seven lawmakers resigned in December 2022 as part of their anti-government campaign ahead of general elections expected to be held in December this year.

In the 350-member Bangladesh National Parliament -- Jatiyo Sangsad --Awami League has 302 members while the Jatiya Party has 26. Other smaller parties like the Workers Party of Bangladesh has four MPs, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh and Gonoforum have two each.

After his retirement as a district and sessions judge, Sahabuddin served as one of the commissioners of the independent Anti-corruption Commission. He later joined politics and became a member of the Awami League Advisory Council, which comprises senior party leaders and technocrats. Born in the northwestern Pabna district, Sahabuddin was also a leader of Awami League's student and youth wings in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

However, he will have to relinquish the party post to become the titular head of the state.

Sahabuddin also took part in the 1971 Liberation War and was imprisoned for waging a protest after the August 15, 1975 assassination of Bangladesh's founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman -- the father of Prime Minister Hasina -- in a military coup along with most of his family members.

The coup also led to the toppling of the Awami League government.

In 1982, he was inducted into the country's judicial service.

Sahabuddin served as the coordinator of the Bangabandhu murder trial when Awami League returned to power in the 1996 elections.

His wife Rebeka Sultana is the former joint secretary to the government.

(With inputs from agencies)