Mintoo, a nominated director from Bangladesh Association of Banks, got 36 votes out of 38. He got the support of 22 elected directors and all the 14 government-nominated directors, who were the voters.

Kamaluddin Ahmed of Cox's Bazar Chamber of Commerce and Industry was elected first vice-president and Abul Quasem Haider of Bangladesh Sewing Thread Manufacturers' and Exporters' Association vice-president of the country's apex trade body.

Earlier, two candidates -- Mintoo and Abdul Matlub Ahmad -- submitted nomination papers for the post of president in the second phase of the biennial election.

Although Matlub did not withdraw from the race, he refused to take part in the election, protesting the method of casting of votes -- by raising hands.

Kamaluddin was unanimously elected first vice-president as his lone rival for the post Mir Nasir Hossain of Faridpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry withdrew in the last minutes.

Haider defeated Mohammad Ali of Bangladesh Re-rolling Mills Association to become vice-president. Haider, chairman of Youth Group, secured 23 votes while Ali, incumbent vice-president, got 10 votes.

The Mintoo-led leadership will take office at the annual general meeting of the FBCCI on September 8.

The 24 elected and 14 nominated directors met yesterday to elect president and two vice-presidents.

The new electoral system adopted in line with a statutory regulatory order (SRO) issued by the commerce ministry does not have any guidelines on the method of casting votes for electing president and vice-presidents. So, the FBCCI Election Board Chairman Anisuzzaman gave three options -- hand-raising, secret balloting and picking a winner through consensus.

As 26 out of 38 directors were in favour of voting by raising hands, the election board went for it.

But Matlub walked out of the board room, the venue of the election, protesting the method. He asked his panel members to follow him but none responded. He however came back to participate in the election of vice-presidents.

Later, his panel members left the election venue when Mohammad Ali lost to Abul Quasem Haider in the vice-presidential race. They chanted slogans against the election board chairman, terming him a 'lackey' of the government.

Talking to newsmen later, Matlub, chairman of Nitol Group, said he did not participate in the election as the 'hand-raising' method of voting is an undemocratic one. He however accepted the results and assured all help to the new leadership.

Mintoo, who was also president of the FBCCI for 1998-2000 term, said his prime job would be to concentrate on capacity building of the highest trade body. The Multimode Group chairman, Mintoo, also said he would utilise his past experience to make the trade body a facilitator of trade and commerce and help it play a greater role in this field.

In the first tier of the election, the Mintoo-led panel bagged 11 directors out of 12 in the chamber group and one out of 12 in the association group. The Matlub-led panel got one in the chamber group and nine in the association group. And A Rouf Chowdhury-led panel got the rest two in the association group.