Independent MP Rumin Farhana of Brahmanbaria-2 abstained from voting in Bangladesh’s 23rd presidential election, describing the process as “meaningless” and a “farce.”

The election was held on Thursday (August 20) in the session hall of the Jatiya Sangsad. After voting ended, the ballots were counted publicly, and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Officer A.M.M. Nasir Uddin announced the result. BNP-nominated candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir defeated Colonel (Retd.) Oli Ahmed, the candidate of the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance.

Explaining her decision, Rumin Farhana cited three reasons. First, she questioned the value of an election when the outcome was already known. She said, “I considered the presidential election meaningless. Because if there is no uncertainty in voting, it is not an election. Everyone already knows the outcome of this vote. Then why should I call it a vote? Therefore, this is a nomination, not an election.”

As her second reason, she referred to the recent mass uprising and the sacrifices and aspirations associated with it. She said, “There was such a huge mass uprising, involving our sacrifices as a nation and so many dreams. So why couldn’t we all nominate a non-political and acceptable person for the presidency?”

She described her third reason as the most important, saying, “Before the presidential vote, BNP invoked Article 70 of the Constitution to intimidate us. Yet since 2016, BNP has been talking loudly about Vision 2030. Now they are saying that voting outside the party will result in the cancellation of membership. Why would I participate in such a farcical vote?”

A total of six MPs abstained from voting in the presidential election. They are BNP Standing Committee member and Dhaka-8 MP Mirza Abbas; Kishoreganj-3 MP Dr. Osman Faruk; Chattogram-3 MP Mostafa Kamal Pasha; independent Brahmanbaria-2 MP Rumin Farhana; Khelafat Majlish MP from Sylhet-5 Mohammad Abul Hasan; and Jamaat-e-Islami MP from Satkhira-4 Gazi Nazrul Islam.