Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin resigned on Friday, nearly two years before completing his five-year term, citing serious health complications. A longtime ally of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, the 76-year-old submitted his resignation to Parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed.
In his resignation letter, Shahabuddin said he was suffering from heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney complications.
"Recently, medical tests detected a disease called Autonomic Neuropathy. Due to this illness, I sometimes lose consciousness briefly. Because of the prevalence of these diseases, I am physically and mentally incapable of discharging the responsibilities of such an important constitutional post of President," he wrote.
Speaker Ahmed, who returned to Dhaka after cutting short a medical visit to Bangkok, accepted the resignation. Under the Bangladesh Constitution, he will serve as Acting President until a new President is elected.
Resignation follows political tensions
Shahabuddin's resignation comes amid speculation that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's government was uncomfortable with the largely ceremonial head of state, according to media reports.
A 1971 Liberation War veteran and former lower judiciary judge, Shahabuddin assumed office in April 2023 after being elected by the previous parliament. He remained the only constitutional office-holder from the previous dispensation after the July-August 2024 student-led uprising that overthrew Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government. Hasina fled to India on Aug 5, 2024, and has been living there since.
His resignation came days after Hasina announced she was preparing to return to Bangladesh by December despite a pending death sentence, triggering political controversy. Reports also claimed Shahabuddin had recently spoken to Hasina over the phone, drawing criticism from the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). However, in an interview with The Daily Star on Thursday, he dismissed the reports as "baseless."
President's role gained significance after 2024 upheaval
Although the President is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the role is largely ceremonial, with executive authority resting with the prime minister. Shahabuddin's position, however, assumed greater importance after the 2024 political turmoil, when the interim government reportedly pressured him to resign.
Two months before the Feb 12 elections that ended Muhammad Yunus' 18-month rule, Shahabuddin said he had been "humiliated" by the interim government, which had also removed his portraits from Bangladeshi embassies abroad. At the time, he said he enjoyed "100 per cent support" from the BNP, while the army, navy and air force chiefs stood firmly behind him.
In an interview in December 2025, Shahabuddin had expressed his intention to resign after fulfilling his constitutional responsibility of conducting the February elections.
