President Md. Shahabuddin has resigned. Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed has called a press conference after accepting the resignation letter.

The press conference will be held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on Friday (July 24) at 5 pm.

Since the office of the President is vacant, the Speaker will serve as the President until a new President assumes office through the election process as per the constitution.

According to Article 50 (3) of the Constitution, the President can resign through a letter signed by him addressed to the Speaker. And Article 54 states that if the office of the President is vacant or if he is unable to perform his duties due to absence, illness or any other reason, the Speaker will serve as the President until a new President is elected.

According to Article 123 (2) of the Constitution, if the office of the President becomes vacant due to death, resignation or removal, a new President must be elected within the next 90 days. According to Article 48 (1) of the Constitution, the President is elected by the votes of the members of Parliament.

The ruling BNP has a majority in parliament. As a result, the party’s nominee is more likely to be elected the next president. Md. Discussions have been going on at the top level of BNP for several days about who will be nominated as the successor to Shahabuddin.

Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed returned to Dhaka from Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, this afternoon. He went to Bangkok on July 19 for medical treatment. Although he was supposed to return next Sunday according to his tour schedule, he returned to the country two days ahead of schedule.