DHAKA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, a six-term parliamentarian, on Thursday took oath as the speaker of Bangladesh's 13th parliament.

The vote for the speaker started immediately after the country's 13th parliament went into its first session on Thursday morning.

Ahmad, a lawmaker from the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was elected the new speaker unanimously and unopposed in a voice vote.

Ahmad stepped down from his previous role as the country's liberation war affairs minister to assume his current position. ■