Presidential election between February 18 and 20

The presidential election of Bangladesh will be held between February 18 and 20 in the parliament.

The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the polls on Thursday.

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda came up with the revelations after his meeting with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury on Wednesday.

Lawmakers vote in the presidential election held in parliament, where the CEC will act as the election officer.

Amid the Election Commission remaining tight-lipped after Law Minister Anisul Huq told the media that the polls were scheduled for Feb 19, Huda met Speaker Chaudhury to ‘discuss the overall preparations’.

The Speaker said their discussions focused on the schedule drafted for the polls.

“The commission will finalise the matter in its meeting on Thursday,” she told reporters.

On Apr 24, 2013, Md Abdul Hamid was sworn in as the 20th president of Bangladesh. Since independence, 16 people have headed the state for 19 terms. Hamid is the 17th person to serve as president.

Hamid’s term expires on April 23, which means the election must be held between January 24 and February 23.

Lawmakers voted to elect a president only once in 1991, when parliamentary democracy was reinstated. Since then, it has been elected unopposed.

In case of multiple candidates, the Election Commission will conduct the voting in parliament.

After the votes close, the election commissioner will publicly count the votes and declare the name of the candidate with the highest votes as elected, bdnews24 said.

In case of a tie, the results will be determined by lottery, according to the law.