National polls: 87,000 Bangladeshi expats registered so far to vote

Nearly 87,000 expatriate Bangladeshi voters from different countries across the world have so far registered through a mobile app, 'Postal Vote Bd', in the past 10 days to vote in the upcoming national election and the referendum.

The Election Commission (EC) on 19 November opened the 'Postal Vote Bd' app initially for 53 countries and then for a total of 143 countries.

But on 27 November, the EC suspended the registration process for the expatriates living in seven countries -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after many applicants input incorrect or incomplete mailing addresses.

As of 7:10pm today, a total of 86,844 expatriates – 72,938 males and 13,906 females – had registered through the app.

Among the registrants, the highest number came from the USA (16,835), followed by South Korea (9,275), Canada (8,027), Australia (7,102), Japan (6,712), Singapore (6,058), the UK (4,721), South Africa (4,667), Italy (3,441), Maldives (2,279), China (1,831), France (1,735), Portugal (1,674) and 1,674 (Germany).

Among the registered expats, the highest 17,961 will vote in Dhaka district from abroad, while 6,582 in Cumilla, 6,044 in Sylhet, 5,320 in Noakhali, 5,036 in Chattogram, 2,500 in Munshiganj, 2,469 in Feni, 2,149 in Chandpur, 2,118 in Moulvibazar and 1,987 in Brahmanbaria district.

In terms of constituencies, the highest 2,226 registered expats will vote in Sylhet-1, while 1,820 in Dhaka-18, 1,812 in Noakhali-1, 1,559 in Sylhet-6, and 1,558 in Dhaka-10 constituency.

The expatriate registration process for expatriates will continue till 18 December.

Besides, the app will remain open for the government officials, polling personnel, prisoners under lawful custody from December 19 to 25.

Though the postal balloting system has been in the laws for a long time, it was never practiced in the previous elections.

This is the first time the Election Commission is introducing a hybrid postal balloting system, enabling expatriates, government staff, polling personnel and inmates to exercise their franchise through a combination of digital registration and manual voting.

The EC aims to facilitate voting for approximately 5 million expatriate Bangladeshis living in 143 countries through this IT-supported postal voting mechanism.

Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on Saturday said the Election Commission will announce the schedule for the next general election in the second week of December.

"Hopefully, what we expect is that it will be declared in the second week of December. When the schedule is announced, then you will know the dates (voting date, nomination deadline and the last date for withdrawal of candidacy)," he said, replying to a question from reporters.

The CEC was talking to reporters after inspecting a mock voting exercise demonstrated at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Government Girls High School in the capital.