Staff Reporter:
The presidential election will be held this afternoon, while the newly elected president will take his oath at Bangabhaban on Friday evening, Chief Whip Md. Nurul Islam Moni said yesterday.
He disclosed this at a press conference at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban yesterday following a meeting of BNP’s Parliamentary Party.
“We will vote in the presidential election on Thursday afternoon after 35 years, Insha’Allah. Voting will begin at 2pm and continue till 5pm,” he said.
The Chief Whip said the Election Commission and Parliament had decided to broadcast live the voting pro-cess five minutes before voting begins.
“The voting of the Honorable President, Honorable Speaker, Honorable Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposi-tion and our presidential candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will be shown live,” he said.
He said the proceedings would then be recorded, and live broadcasting would resume five minutes before the conclusion of voting. The announcement of the election results would also be broadcast live.
“You will see a historic moment today. A new journey of democracy will begin,” Nurul Islam Moni said.
He said the newly elected president would take oath at Bangabhaban at 7:30pm on Friday.
Referring to the leadership of BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman, the Chief Whip said the party had carried out a 17-year-long movement and struggle under his leadership before returning to government through a demo-cratic election.
“We want to establish democracy and give it an institutional shape,” he said.
He said both the government and the opposition wanted to work inclusively to establish democracy and main-tain the country’s progress.
Referring to the presidential contest, he said the candidates are Dr Oli Ahmad and Mirza Fakhrul Islam Ala-mgir.
“The people of this country will once again witness how voting takes place. Insha’Allah, we will be able to elect a new president,” he said.
Whips Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu, Miah Nuruddin Ahmed Apu, ABM Ashraf Uddin Nizan and GK Gaus, lawmakers Amirul Islam Alim and Khandaker Abu Ashfaq, and Prime Minister’s Deputy Press Secretary Za-hidul Islam Rony, among others, were present at the briefing.
The BNP Parliamentary Party meeting began at 4pm yesterday at the ninth floor of the Jatiya Sangsad Bha-ban with Prime Minister and Parliamentary Party Leader Tarique Rahman in the chair. The meeting ended at 4:40pm.
Presidential candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also attended the meeting.
Voting will take place in the presidential election for the first time in 35 years as more than one candidate is contesting the post.
BNP and its like-minded parties have nominated former BNP Secretary General and Local Government Minis-ter Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as their candidate.
Retired Colonel Oli Ahmed is the candidate of Jamaat-e-Islami led 11-party opposition alliance.
A total of 349 members of parliament are eligible to vote in the presidential election.
The last contested presidential election by parliamentary vote was held on October 8, 1991, in the Jatiya Sangsad chamber.
BNP nominated Abdur Rahman Biswas, while Awami League nominated Badrul Haider Chowdhury.
In that election, Abdur Rahman Biswas defeated Awami League candidate Badrul Haider Chowdhury, secur-ing 172 votes against his rival’s 92, and became the country’s 11th president.
