India, Aug. 21 -- Bangladesh lawmakers on Thursday elected ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) candidate and senior party leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the country's new President, in the first contested presidential election in 35 years.

In the closely watched election, Alamgir, one of the BNP's top leaders and a prominent opposition figure during the tenure of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government, defeated his rival, former Colonel Oli Ahmad, by a commanding 255-88 margin.

Alamgir, who has served as the BNP's secretary general, now begins a new chapter in his political career with his election to the country's highest constitutional office.

Announcing the result, Chief Election Commissioner AMM ...