by Alberto Galvi –
Retired judge Shahabuddin Chuppu was sworn in as the new president of Bangladesh, succeeding Abdul Hamidi, the only president to finish back-to-back terms. Speaker of Parliament Shirin Sharmin Choudhury sworn in Shahabuddin Chuppu, as the 22nd president of the republic of Bangladesh, at the Bangabhaban presidential palace in Dhaka.
Shahabuddin Chuppu was the candidate of the ruling AL (Awami League) party, and was elected unopposed on February 13 last year, as no other candidate filed documents to contest his race. With 302 members, the AL party has a majority in the 350-seat national parliament, and no other party had the numbers to nominate a presidential candidate.
Shahabuddin Chuppu was born in 1949 in Pabna city in the northern district of Pabnao and was also a member of the advisory council of the AL. He was a freedom fighter in the country’s war of independence in 1971, and was also a commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission from 2011 to 2016.
After being sworn in, the new president was congratulated by the outgoing president, Hamid. Presidential elections must be held 60 to 90 days before the end of each five-year term.