Mohammed Shahabuddin, a retired judge, has been sworn in as the new president of Bangladesh for a five-year term, replacing outgoing president Abdul Hamid. The 74-year-old retired judge of the ruling Awami League party was elected unopposed in Feb. 13. Mohammad Shahabuddin retired as a judge in 2006. Shahabuddin recited the oath of office, administered by Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Choudhury on Monday at the Bangabhaban presidential palace in Dhaka, becoming the 22nd president of this South Asian republic. The event was aired live by state-run Bangladesh Television and other private broadcasters. With 302 members, the Awami League 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, Shahabuddin was 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. Shahabuddin had a distinguished political career from a young age, starting in his student years. He completed his MSc degree from Rajshahi University in 1974. Then he obtained an LLB degree in 1975 from the same institution. Shahabuddin has served in various political and state roles. He served as the president of the Pabna District unit Chattra League and Jubo League in the 1970s. During the Liberation War in 1971, Shahabuddin was a key player in the northern region, serving as a student leader and the convener of the Swadhin Bangla Chattra Sangram Parishad. — Agencies
