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Published : 23 Jul 2026, 06:09 PM
President Mohammed Shahabuddin has decided to step down but is waiting for Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad to return before tendering his resignation, officials at Bangabhaban and a source close to the president say.
The speaker left for Thailand for medical treatment on Jul 19 and is due back on Jul 26, although officials say he may return earlier.
The President's Press Secretary Sarwar Alam told bdnews24.com on Thursday, "He has not yet signed the resignation letter. We will inform you if he resigns."
"The person to whom he must submit it is not in the country. So there is no opportunity to resign now," a senior Bangabhaban official said, adding that the president had already decided to step down, whether for health or personal reasons.
A source close to Shahabuddin said he had told officials he could leave Bangabhaban within the next few days.
Under Article 50(3) of the Constitution, the president resigns by submitting a signed letter to the speaker. Article 54 provides that the speaker acts as president until a successor is elected.
Under Article 123(2) of the Constitution, a new president must be elected within 90 days if the post falls vacant due to death, resignation or removal. Article 48(1) says the president is elected by MPs.
Although the Constitution does not require the speaker to be in Bangladesh to receive the resignation letter, a Bangabhaban official said the timing could be linked to the speaker taking over as acting president once the post falls vacant.
"The president may sign the resignation letter soon. However, he has not yet seen the final document and it has not been formally handed over. Once the speaker returns to the country, the process could move forward quickly," the official told bdnews24.com.
A Presidency Shaped by Political Upheaval
Shahabuddin, now 75, assumed office on Apr 24, 2023, for a five-year term due to expire in April 2028.
A former commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission, he was widely known as Shahabuddin Chuppu before becoming head of state.
While the president serves as the supreme commander of Bangladesh's armed forces, the post is largely ceremonial, with executive authority vested in the prime minister and the cabinet.
His presidency took an unexpected turn just 16 months into his tenure when the Awami League government was toppled in the mass uprising of 2024 and then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India.
Although the Hasina administration collapsed, Shahabuddin remained in office, overseeing the dissolution of parliament, administering the oath to the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, and formally endorsing its decisions through presidential ordinances.
Several organisations aligned with the uprising demanded his resignation in October last year, but the BNP opposed removing the president, warning it could trigger a constitutional crisis. The interim government ultimately took no action.
Repeated Signals of a Desire to Step Down
Shahabuddin has since spoken publicly about wanting to leave office.
In an interview with Reuters on Dec 11, 2025, before the parliamentary election, he said he intended to step down after a new government took office.
"I am eager to leave. I want to go from here."
When asked by bdnews24.com at the time when he planned to resign, he replied: "Once the new government comes... if the new government requests it."
Asked why he wished to step down, his response was brief: "I don't like it anymore."
He later said he felt humiliated during the interim administration, citing his political isolation, the removal of his portraits from Bangladeshi missions abroad, and the downsizing of Bangabhaban's press wing.
Despite the BNP's landslide victory in the Feb 12 election, Shahabuddin remained in office and administered the oath of office to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and members of the new cabinet on Feb 17.
In an interview published on Feb 23, he acknowledged the BNP's support during the interim period, saying: "The BNP stood by me completely during my difficult time."
Health Concerns and Renewed Speculation
Shahabuddin travelled to the United Kingdom in May for follow-up treatment after undergoing coronary bypass surgery in Singapore in October 2023.
At Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge on May 12, doctors found a severe blockage in a coronary artery during an angiogram and immediately inserted a stent through angioplasty.
He remained under close observation before returning to Bangladesh nine days later.
Bangabhaban later said, citing his personal physicians, that his condition was stable and satisfactory.
Even while undergoing treatment in Britain, Shahabuddin continued to approve official documents digitally and held an informal courtesy meeting in London with Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris.
Tarique made his first overseas visit after taking office, travelling to Malaysia and China from Jun 21 to Jun 26.
Although it is customary for the prime minister to brief the president after returning from an official foreign visit, neither Bangabhaban nor the Prime Minister's Office has disclosed any such meeting or briefing.
That has fuelled speculation of growing distance between the presidency and the new administration.
Fresh rumours surfaced on Wednesday after UK-based Bangladeshi journalist Zulkarnain Saer claimed on Facebook that Shahabuddin would resign within days on health grounds and that Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani, rather than a senior BNP figure, was among the preferred candidates to succeed him.
Neither Bangabhaban nor the government has officially commented on the claim.
Asked about the speculation on Thursday, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said the president was constitutionally entitled to resign if he wished, but stressed the government had taken no steps regarding the presidency.
When asked whether Shahabuddin was preparing to step down for health reasons, Salahuddin replied: "That is something you will have to ask him."
