PN Member Saber Hossain Chowdhury Elected Inter-Parliamentary Union President

PN Member and Member of the National Assembly of Bangladesh, Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury, has been elected President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

The IPU is an international organization of parliaments that fosters parliamentary dialogue and works toward peace and cooperation among peoples and the establishment of representative democracy. 

Chowdhury defeated three other candidates: Speaker of Australia's House of Representatives Bronwyn Bishop, Indonesian MP Nurhayati Ali Assegaf and former Speaker of the Maldives Parliament Abdulla Shahid. He won the election with 169 votes, with second-place Bishop receiving 95. 

In his own words, “Politics and public service is about helping people to solve their problems, to live their dreams. My belief is to always improve upon what you find and leave a better, more peaceful world. I will be an active president, accessible and leading from the front."

PN Member Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury was first elected as a Member of the Bangladesh Parliament in 1996 where he currently serves as a member of the Bangladesh Awami League. Mr. Chowdhury is the Chair of the Bangladesh Parliament's All Party Group on Climate Change and Environment. He has been recognized as a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International and in April 2010 became the First Vice-President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union's First Standing Committee on Peace and International Security.

Photo courtesy of UN ISDR.