A former member of the judiciary and a participant in the country's freedom struggle, Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu, will become Bangladesh's 22nd president after being elected unopposed to the top constitutional post, the South Asian nation's poll body said on Monday.
Talking to journalists in the national capital Dhaka, Bangladesh Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal confirmed the development.
"As per the election schedule, two nomination papers were submitted for Shahabuddin on Sunday and one of those was accepted as valid after scrutiny. We will send it today for notification," a Bangladesh Election Commission official informed reporters.
The Awami League holds a brute majority in the 350-member Bangladeshi parliament, having won 302 seats in the December 2018 polls.
This is perhaps why Shahabuddin Chuppu's victory was considered to be a mere formality as other political parties did not have the numbers to nominate one of their members as a candidate in the presidential polls.
Born in the Pabna district in 1949 in what was then eastern Pakistan, Shahabuddin has previously been an active worker of the Advisory Council of the Awami League.
Besides, he was also commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission, the country's top graft-investigating body.
Shahabuddin will take over from Abdul Hamid, the South Asian nation's longest serving President, who has been in office since April 2013.
His current term comes to an end on April 24.