Polls to elect president on Feb 19, says law minister

The Election Commission will organise the polls to elect the 21st Bangladesh president on Feb 19, says Law Minister Anisul Huq.

President Md Abdul Hamid’s five-year term expires on Apr 23.

According to the Constitution, the election has to be held within the last 60 to 90 days of the incumbent head of state’s tenure, which starts on Wednesday.

A meeting of the election commissioners have been convened for Thursday over the matter, said the commission’s Acting Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed.

“The meeting has been scheduled for Jan 25, when the next steps (for the polls) will be decided,” he told bdnews24.com on Monday.

Later, Minister Anisul told bdnews24.com, “I came to know from the Election Commission that the voting will be held on Feb 19.”

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

MPs vote in the presidential election, in which the chief election commissioner acts as the election officer.

EC Acting Secretary Helaluddin said the president’s tenure ends on Apr 23, which means the election has to be held between Jan 24 and Feb 23.

In that case, the polls will have been held during the ongoing parliament session. The commission will announce the polls schedule following a meeting between the speaker and the chief election commissioner.

MPs 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.

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