Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin has resigned | Political Affairs

Shahabuddin, 76, cited health reasons for leaving two years before his five-year term was up.

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin has resigned two years into his five-year term.

Shahabuddin, 76, cited health reasons for his decision on Friday. This has happened while the opposition parties are demanding his resignation.

“A recent medical examination has diagnosed me with a condition called Autonomic Neuropathy. Due to this condition, I sometimes experience temporary loss of consciousness,” Shahabuddin said in a statement released by his secretary.

The Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad, the country’s parliament, will perform the duties of the President until a new one is elected, he said.

A new president must be elected within the next 90 days according to the constitution.

“I am very ill… therefore I cannot do my work,” Shahabuddin said in a letter to Parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed on Friday.

Ahmed said he agreed to resign, the Associated Press reported.

“According to the Constitution, the resignation of the president takes effect after he submits a signed letter to the speaker,” said the president’s spokesperson, Sarwar Alam.

The resignation comes as media reports say Shahabuddin spoke to the ousted prime minister over the phone Sheikh Hasinawho lives in India, on his way to the UK for treatment in May this year, according to The Daily Star from Dhaka.

Shahabuddin has denied the media report.

“I’m suffering from various ailments,” he told the Daily Star when asked why he resigned. “Right now I have nothing more to add.”

He left for London on May 9 and returned on May 18.

Shahabuddin has been the president of the South Asian country since April 2023. His term was supposed to end in 2028.

He oversaw the country during the difficult period after that She hasn’t he was ousted in August 2024 by youth protesters and until a temporary government was installed a few days later.

Hasina currently lives in the Indian capital, New Delhi, but is expected to return to Bangladesh in December, according to Reuters, which reported that Shahabuddin was expected to resign on Thursday.

Her resignation leaves Hasina with no allies in the top post five months before her return.

But as the president of Bangladesh, his role is ceremonial. While he is the head of state, the executive power rests with the prime minister and the cabinet.