Expat Postal Voting Sees 15,000 Registrations in Four Days

The registration period for expatriate Bangladeshis to cast their votes by postal ballot in the 13th national election ends today, Sunday. In the past four days, more than 15,000 voters from 52 countries across East Asia, South America and Africa registered through the ‘Postal Vote BD’ app.

The information was available from the Election Commission’s registration report app (https://portal.ocv.gov.bd/report) at 3 pm on Sunday (23 November).

The Bangladesh Election Commission has set a five-day registration window for each region worldwide. In the first phase, expatriates from East Asia, South America and Africa were able to register between 19 and 23 November.

Retired Brigadier General Salim Ahmad Khan, Team Leader of the ‘Out of Country Voting System and Implementation (OCV–SDI)’ project, said that expatriates from other regions will get the opportunity to register step by step until 18 December.

From 19 November to 3 pm on Sunday (23 November), a total of 15,075 voters from 34 countries registered through the app. Among them, 13,821 are men and 1,254 are women.

South Korea accounts for the highest number of registrants with 6,679, followed by Japan with 3,738, South Africa with 1,808 and China with 1,155. The complete figures will be available after midnight.

It is noteworthy that from 19 to 23 December, a special registration period has been set for three categories of residents inside the country and expatriates who missed the regular window. Only registered individuals will be able to vote by postal ballot in the 13th national election and referendum.

Khaborwala/SS