The BNP and the mass people have no interest in the ruling party's decision to elect the new president of Bangladesh, the major opposition party's top brass has said.
Based on three criteria, – extreme loyalty, courage and having clear idea about the law – a member of the ruling party has been elected as the 22nd president of Bangladesh, the BNP leaders said.
“There is no elected government in this country. Therefore, the ministers, MPs and president are not elected by the people's opinion,” Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, BNP standing committee member, told Dhaka Tribune.
The BNP has no interest in the decisions of an unelected government, he added.
The ruling Awami League nominated Mohammed Shahabuddin as the 22nd president of Bangladesh on Sunday.
BNP leader Barrister Rumeen Farhana mentioned that electing a party person as the president is an opportunistic decision by the ruling party.
She said: “Ahead of the elections, the ruling party elected a man of law as the president who is very loyal to them. The candidate (Shahabuddin) has shown a lot of courage in the past days, which is very much needed by the government during the election. Most importantly, he is a loyal party man of the ruling party. “
She added that it is natural that a president would be elected for party interests when the government is illegal.
“But our protest was different and still is, we will stay firm in meeting our demands, we will not hold any election under this government,” said BNP Standing Committee member Selima Rahman.
“The president was elected by party choice. It means that he will serve the purpose of a specific group as president. Whose opinion has this government considered in making the decision to elect him as president?" she questioned.
“We think that all these decisions of this government have no basis and we have no interest in this election,” the BNP leader added.
In an earlier press conference, BNP senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said their party has no interest in the presidential election.
“We do not want to comment on what this government is doing or not doing,” he said.
The BNP leader said the purpose of their press conference was to inform the media about the attacks and obstruction by the police and the ruling party activists during their party's countrywide march program at the union level on Saturday.
The Awami League Parliamentary Party had nominated Shahabuddin, a former commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission, a retired district and sessions judge, and a freedom fighter, to run for president, General Secretary Obaidul Quader told the media on Sunday.
Sunday was the last day for the submission of nominations, and Shahabuddin became the president-elect by default at 4pm as no other party had picked a candidate for the election.
The tenure of Md Abdul Hamid, the longest-serving president of the country, will expire on April 23, and according to the constitution, there is no scope for him to serve a third term.