The ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party has nominated Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, minister for local government, rural development and co-operatives, as its candidate for Bangladesh’s 23rd presidential election.

BNP joint secretary-general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the decision on Thursday after a meeting of the party’s standing committee and senior leaders with prime minister and party chairperson Tarique Rahman at the Secretariat.

Rizvi said Fakhrul had resigned as BNP secretary-general and as a member of the standing committee.

With the announcement, both the ruling party and the opposition block have nominated their candidates for the August 20 presidential election. Scrutiny is scheduled for August 16, and candidates may withdraw until August 18, two days before the vote.

The 11-party alliance led by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami had earlier named Liberal Democratic Party chairman retired Colonel Oli Ahmad as its candidate.

Election Commission officials have said that if no nomination is rejected, a presidential election will be held by vote for the first time since 1991. In that case, 349 MPs from general and reserved seats will vote on August 20. The Chattogram-4 seat remains vacant after a court disqualified the winning candidate.

Election Commission Secretary Akhter Ahmed said voting would take place from 2 pm to 5 pm on August 20 in the parliament chamber, where MPs will sit in their seats.

Bangladesh’s 22nd president, Mohammed Shahabuddin, resigned on July 24 citing ill health. The commission subsequently set the vote for August 20.