Feeling humiliated by interim govt, Bangladesh president seeks mid-term exit: Report

Shahabuddin, 75, had been elected unopposed for a five-year term in 2023 as a nominee of Hasina’s Awami League party.

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin said on Thursday he plans to step down midway through his term after February’s parliamentary election, telling Reuters he has felt humiliated by the interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

File photo of Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin (X/@President_BD)

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As head of state, Shahabuddin is commander-in-chief of Bangladesh's armed forces, but the role is largely ceremonial, and executive power rests with the prime minister and cabinet.

However, his position gained prominence when a student-led uprising forced long-time premier Sheikh Hasina to flee to New Delhi in August 2024, leaving him as the last remaining constitutional authority after parliament was dissolved.

Shahabuddin, 75, had been elected unopposed for a five-year term in 2023 as a nominee of Hasina’s Awami League party.

“I am keen to leave. I am interested to go out,” he said in a WhatsApp interview from his official residence in Dhaka.

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

The president said 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.

“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. Yunus’ press advisers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.