Sajjad Zahir Chandan has been elected president of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) for a four-year term, while Abdullah Al Kafi Ratan has been chosen as the party’s new general secretary. Both leaders previously served as presidium members of the party.
The announcement came on Wednesday during the CPB’s 13th Congress, which elected the new leadership. The process began with a meeting of 43 central committee members—earlier elected by delegates from across the country—who selected the top posts.
Manabendra Dev, who attended the meeting, said, “Kazi Sajjad Zahir Chandan has been elected president and Abdullah Al Kafi Ratan general secretary.”
The new leadership succeeds Mohammad Shah Alam and Ruhin Hossain Prince, who were elected president and general secretary respectively at the 12th Congress in 2022. Before them, Mujahidul Islam Selim and Syed Abu Zafar Ahmed led the party from the 10th Congress in 2012 and were re-elected at the 11th Congress in 2016. After Zafar’s death, Shah Alam became general secretary.
The CPB’s 13th Congress began on Friday at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh in Dhaka with the slogan “Establish a Left Democratic Government against Exploitation and Inequality to Change Society.” Its council session later moved to the BMA auditorium, where more than 500 delegates took part. They passed resolutions on condolence, the general secretary’s report, political proposals, constitutional amendments, credentials, audit, and control commission reports before electing the central committee.
The congress concluded Monday night after announcing the election results, followed by a closing speech and a collective rendition of the “Communist International.” The new leadership was finalized Wednesday after a full-day meeting of the elected central committee members.
Sajjad Zahir Chandan previously served as president of the Bangladesh Students’ Union (1994–1996) and was also general secretary of the Bangladesh Peasants’ Association. Abdullah Al Kafi Ratan was once social welfare secretary of the Dhaka Metropolitan Committee of the Bangladesh Students’ Union and later president of its Dhaka University committee. He was also the first elected general secretary of Dhaka University’s Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall Students’ Union in 1989–90.
Ratan currently chairs the Bangladesh Youth Union and is one of the founders of the Bangladesh Garment Workers’ Trade Union Centre.
