Shahabuddin Chuppu takes oath as Bangladesh’s 22nd president

Shahabuddin Chuppu, a retired judge, has been sworn in as the new president of Bangladesh for a five-year term, replacing Abdul Hamid.

Parliamentary Speaker Shirin Sharmin Choudhury on Monday administered the oath of office to Shahabuddin, the 22nd president of the South Asian republic, at the Bangabhaban presidential palace in Dhaka.

The event was aired live by state-run Bangladesh Television and other private broadcasters.

Chuppu, the nominee of the ruling Awami League (AL) party, was elected unopposed on February 13 as no other candidate submitted papers to contest the race.

With 302 members, the AL party has the majority in the 350-seat national parliament, and no other party had the numbers to nominate a presidential candidate.

After taking the oath, the new president was congratulated by the outgoing president, Hamid – the only person in Bangladesh to hold the presidential post for 10 years in two consecutive terms.

According to the country’s constitution, the presidential election must be held 60 to 90 days before the expiry of each five-year term.

Born in 1949 in the northern Bangladeshi town of Pabna, Chuppu retired as a judge in 2006.

A freedom fighter in the country’s independence war in 1971, he also served as commissioner of the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission from 2011 to 2016.