Dhaka, Bangladesh — Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin has resigned, ending the tenure of one of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s last remaining allies in public office amid growing political uncertainty over her possible return to the country.
Shahabuddin submitted his resignation on Friday, citing ill health, just days after Hasina told Reuters she intended to return to Bangladesh despite facing the death penalty over her government’s crackdown on the 2024 student-led protests that ultimately led to her removal from power.
Officials from the President’s Office confirmed that Shahabuddin signed his resignation letter on Friday afternoon. The letter has been submitted to Parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, who is expected to assume the president’s responsibilities in an acting capacity until a successor is elected. According to Bangladesh’s Constitution, Parliament must elect a new president within 90 days.
The speaker is reportedly cutting short his medical visit to Thailand to return to Dhaka following the president’s resignation.
Shahabuddin had been under increasing pressure from leaders of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to step down. Although sweeping changes followed the July 2024 mass uprising that toppled Sheikh Hasina’s government, Shahabuddin remained one of the few senior figures from her administration to retain his position.
He continued serving during the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus and even after the BNP secured a landslide victory in the February general election.
Despite his constitutional term running until 2028, Shahabuddin had signaled his desire to resign months earlier. In an interview with Reuters last December, he said he felt “humiliated” after the interim government removed his portraits from Bangladeshi embassies and consulates abroad. At the time, he said he would remain in office until elections were held and allow the incoming government to decide his future.
Widely regarded as a loyal ally of Sheikh Hasina, Shahabuddin became a target of the student movement that led the 2024 uprising. Protesters accused him of collaborating with the former prime minister’s administration and repeatedly demanded both his resignation and arrest.
His departure marks another significant shift in Bangladesh’s post-Hasina political landscape as the country prepares to elect a new head of state while uncertainty continues over the former prime minister’s future.
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