Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Abdul Hamid, the lone candidate for the presidency, was elected the country’s the 20th President on Monday.
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin made the announcement after scrutinizing the validity of Hamid’s candidature in the morning.
Mr. Hamid has been elected as the president amid high expectation that he would play a vital role in overcoming the growing political crisis centring the next parliamentary election.
He filed the nomination paper for the April 29 presidential polls on Sunday, the last day for filing nomination paper with the Election Commission.
Mr. Hamid is the second Speaker to become head of state — an elevation from the state’s number three position to number one.
His predecessor Abdur Rahman Biswas was also elected president when he was the Speaker in the fifth parliament in 1991.
After Hamid’s election to the presidency, the office of Speaker fell vacant and the House would need to elect a new Speaker in the current session.
Since March 14, Mr. Hamid has been discharging as acting President as per the Constitution.
Born in 1944 in Kishoreganj, Hamid was elected MP from Itna-Mithamain-Ashtagram for the 7th time, bearing the testimony of his popularity as a public figure.
Mr Hamid, also a veteran politician, discharged his functions as parliament Speaker twice.
The post of President fell vacant on March 20 following the death of President Zillur Rahman while undergoing treatment in a Singapore hospital.
Zillur Rahman, one of the country’s most revered politicians, took over as the 19th President in 2009 after the Awami League-led grand alliance assumed office through a landslide victory in the December 2008 general election.
BBN/SSR/AD-22apr13-1:19 pm (BST)