President Md Sahabuddin has resigned from the office of president. He sent his resignation letter to the Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad on Friday.
In the letter, Md Sahabuddin wrote: “I, Md Sahabuddin, having been elected the 22nd president of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, took the oath as president on April 24, 2023, and to this day have discharged my duties with integrity, honesty and full loyalty to the constitution. It may be mentioned that after the fall of the then government on August 5, 2024, in the face of the mass uprising of students and the public, a governmental and constitutional crisis arose in the country. With the intention of emerging from the constitutional crisis, exercising the power of article 106 of the constitution, I as president sought the opinion of the Appellate Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court. Then, on the advice of the Appellate Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court, I formed an interim government. The interim government, in consultation with the political parties, held a general election to the Jatiya Sangsad.”
He wrote: “On the basis of the election result, the present government was formed and is running the country. At present the ruling party and the opposition are discharging their respective duties in the Jatiya Sangsad through democratic practice. Because of my firm and positive role, no constitutional collapse occurred in the country.”
On the reason for his resignation, Md Sahabuddin wrote: “I am seriously ill. I am suffering from heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney complications. I have had bypass surgery on my heart. In recent health checks a condition called autonomic neuropathy has been detected. Because of this condition I sometimes lose consciousness briefly. Owing to physical and mental incapacity from the onset of these conditions, it is no longer possible for me to discharge the duties of a constitutional office as important as that of president. I need long-term treatment.”
Finally he wrote: “In these circumstances, in accordance with the provision of article 50(3) of the constitution, I resign from the office of president.”
Md Sahabuddin was elected president unopposed in 2023 on the Awami League’s nomination. He took the oath on April 24 that year. Had he not resigned, his five-year term was to end in April 2028.
In an interview with the news agency Reuters on December 11, 2025, Md Sahabuddin had expressed a wish to step aside after the February parliamentary election. He said then: “I am keen to take my leave. I want to go away from here.”
Although the BNP formed the government with an absolute majority in the February 12 election, the president did not resign then. On February 17, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and the ministers and state ministers of the new government took their oaths before him. In an interview published on February 23, highlighting the BNP’s support during the interim government, the president said: “In my difficult time the BNP’s cooperation was one hundred percent. The BNP’s top leadership stood by it in protecting constitutional continuity.”
Demands to remove Md Sahabuddin from the presidency had been raised first during the interim government and later under the BNP government.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report