‘Humiliated interim government’: Bangladesh President to step down after parliamentary election in February | World News

Mohammed Shahabuddin, the President of Bangladesh with former Prime Miner Sheik Hasina. (Photo: Reuters)

Mohammed Shahabuddin, the President of Bangladesh, on Thursday said he plans to step down midway through his term after February’s parliamentary election in the country, the first after the 2024 uprising that toppled the Sheik Hasina government.

‘Humiliated interim government’

Shahabuddin who was sworn in as the 22nd President of Bangladesh in April 2023, told Reuters that he was stepping down as he felt humiliated the interim government, led Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

President of Bangladesh Mohammed Shahabuddin adminering the oath of office to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. (Photo: Reuters)

Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed, belongs to the ousted Prime Miner Sheik Hasian’s Awami League, and continued to hold the post, which is largely ceremonial, even after the uprising.

“I am keen to leave. I am interested to go out,” he told Reuters.

“Until elections are held, I should continue,” Shahabuddin said. “I am upholding my position because of the constitutionally held presidency.”Story continues below this ad

Sidelined Yunus

According to the 75-year-old, whose term would come to an end only in April 2028, the head of the interim government, Yunus, had not met him for nearly seven months, his press department had been taken away and, in September, his portraits were removed from Bangladeshi embassies around the world.

Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus speaks at the Trust Women Conference, London, Britain, December 1 2016. (Photo: REUTERS/File)

“There was the portrait of the president, picture of the president in all consulates, embassies and high commissions, and this has been eliminated suddenly in one night,” he said. “A wrong message goes to the people that perhaps the president is going to be eliminated. I felt very much humiliated.”

Shahabuddin said he had written to Yunus about the portraits, but no action was taken.

Bangladesh announces election date

Earlier, Bangladesh’s chief election commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said in a televised address to the nation on Thursday that the country will hold the next national elections on February 12, 2026.Story continues below this ad

He said that a national referendum would also be held on the same day as voting to elect 300 lawmakers. The last elections were held in January 2024, when Hasina returned to office for a fourth consecutive term. The vote was boycotted her main rivals, who accused her adminration of rigging the result.