Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin Resigns Citing Health Issues

Bangladesh’s president, Mohammed Shahabuddin, has resigned, citing health issues. The speaker of the National Parliament will now become the country’s interim president until a new person is elected.

Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad confirmed Shahabuddin’s resignation at a press briefing on Friday evening. In his resignation letter submitted to the speaker, Shahabuddin said that he was suffering from several health conditions.

He said he was diagnosed with autonomic neuropathy and that he occasionally loses consciousness for brief periods as a result of this illness.

Reports said Shahabuddin received treatment at the Combined Military Hospital over the past two days.

Shahabuddin’s resignation comes much ahead of the official end of his tenure in April 2028. The president’s office in Bangladesh is largely ceremonial.

Shahabuddin, 76, was ⁠elected unopposed for a five-year term in 2023 as a nominee of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party.

The resignation assumes significance as Hasina has announced that she would return to Bangladesh in December.

In November 2025, a Bangladeshi court sentenced Hasina to death in absentia for her role in a violent crackdown on protesters that led to her ouster.

Shahabuddin, who remained in office after Hasina fled to India in August 2024, oversaw a transition that first saw a caretaker administration led by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus.

Elections held this past February propelled Bangladesh National Party’s Tarique Rahman to power. Hasina’s Awami League, which is now banned, was not allowed to participate.

A Reuters report quoting three sources said that the Tarique Rahman government had pressed Shahabuddin to step aside because of his long-standing ties to Hasina.