DHAKA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Bangladeshi lawmakers elected veteran Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the country's new president on Thursday, making the longtime opposition figure the head of state after his party came to power in a major political transition.
The BNP returned to power in February in the long wake of the fall of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government in 2024.While the presidency is largely ceremonial, Alamgirwill serve as head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Executive authority remains with the prime minister and cabinet in the South Asian nation of about 173 million people.
