The Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance today submitted nomination papers for Liberal Democratic Party Chairman Oli Ahmed to contest the 23rd presidential election.

Jamaat Ameer Shafiqur Rahman and National Citizen Party Joint Secretary General Abdullah Al Amin signed the nomination papers as proposer and seconder, respectively.

A delegation of the alliance submitted the papers to Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, the returning officer for the election, at the Election Commission office in the morning.

After the submission, Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Hamidur Rahman Azad said presidential elections in Bangladesh have traditionally been uncontested when the ruling party holds a parliamentary majority, with the government side usually fielding a single candidate.

Explaining the decision to field a candidate, Azad said the alliance wanted to establish a new democratic practice and did not want the presidential election to go uncontested.

“Winning or losing is not the issue. What we do not want is an election without competition. That is the beauty of democracy,” he said.

Criticising the BNP's decision to hold a meeting at the Secretariat this afternoon to finalise its presidential candidate, Hamidur said, “The Secretariat is an executive office. Holding a top-level political meeting there—a meeting of the party's highest forum—has no precedent in our records. For the past five or six months, there has been no change in their activities, as their secretary general himself has admitted.”

Meanwhile, submission of nomination papers for the presidential election began at 10:00am today and will continue until 4:00pm. Scrutiny of the nomination papers will begin at 10:00am on August 16, while candidates may withdraw their nominations by 4:00pm on August 18.

Voting is scheduled to take place on August 20 from 2:00pm to 5:00pm.