BNP Secretary General and Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is reportedly close to securing the party’s nomination for Bangladesh’s next president. A senior BNP leader told Daily Wada that party chairman and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman had nearly finalised Fakhrul’s nomination. No formal party announcement on the decision has been reported.

Several senior BNP leaders told Daily Wada that the full authority to select the candidate rests with Tarique Rahman and that they had not been formally informed. However, a leader close to the prime minister confirmed that Fakhrul Islam’s name had been finalised, according to the report. Tarique Rahman had earlier been given responsibility for finalising the party’s presidential candidate.

BNP has begun formal preparations for the presidential election, collecting two nomination forms from the Election Commission on Sunday. Vice Chairman and parliamentary Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni and Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi collected them in Agargaon. The Election Commission set August 20 for the vote. The office became vacant after Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu resigned on July 24, while Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed has been serving as acting president.