More than 23,000 expatriate Bangladeshi voters from 69 countries have so far registered through a mobile app, ‘Postal Vote Bd’, in the past five days to vote in the upcoming national election.
The Election Commission (EC) launched the ‘Postal Vote Bd’ app on November 18 and opened it on November 19 initially for expatriate voters living in 53 countries located in East Asian, South American and African regions.
Later, on November 24, the Commission opened the registration process for 16 other countries in North America and Oceania regions, including the USA, Australia and Canada.
Now the registration process remains open for the expatriate voters living in a total of 69 countries.
The expatriate voters living in these countries will be able to register till November 28 next.
As of 8:00 pm on Monday, a total of 23,304 expatriates—21,028 males and 2,276 females—had registered through the app.
Among the registrants, the highest number came from South Korea (8,276), followed by Japan (5,405), South Africa (3,282), Australia (1,563), China (1,474), Egypt (698), USA (577), Mozambique (441), Libya (348), Mauritius (306), Hong Kong (191) and Brazil (182).
Other countries in the initial 53-country list include Mongolia, North Korea, Argentina (1), Bolivia (0), Chile (5), Colombia (0), Ecuador (2), Guyana (0), Paraguay (0), Peru (1), Uruguay (0), Venezuela (0), Algeria (14), Angola (13), Botswana (29), Cameroon (0), Central African Republic (2), Chad Republic (0), Republic of the Congo (0), DR Congo (50), Eritrea (0), Ethiopia (36), Gambia (1), Ghana (7), Guinea (6), Kenya (22), Liberia (40), Mali, Morocco (7), Namibia, Niger (1), Nigeria (38), Rwanda (18), Senegal (0), Sierra Leone (3), Somalia (9), South Sudan (6), Sudan (0), Tanzania (13), Tunisia (0), Uganda (47), Zambia, Zimbabwe (1) and Taiwan (3).
The 16 countries where the registration process opened on Monday are Bahamas (0), Canada (3), Costa Rica (0), Cuba (0), Dominican Republic (0), Guatemala (0), Haiti (0), Honduras (0), Jamaica (0), Mexico (2), Nicaragua (0), Panama (0), Trinidad & Tobago (0), United States of America (577), Australia (1,563) and New Zealand (176).
Among the registered expats, the highest 3,267 will vote in Dhaka district from abroad, while 1,870 in Cumilla, 1,548 in Noakhali, 1,162 in Chattogram, 1,041 in Chapainawabganj, 1,005 in Munshiganj, 814 in Feni, 726 in Narsingdi, 597 in Tangail, 577 in Chandpur, 574 in Narayanganj, 562 in Brahmanbaria and 546 in Lakshmipur district.
In terms of constituencies, the highest 770 registered expats will vote in Chapainawabganj-3, while 454 in Noakhali-1, 440 in Noakhali-3, 425 in Munshiganj-3, 387 in Feni-3, 322 in Chattogram-16, 296 in Munshiganj-1, 281 in Munshiganj-2, 274 in Cumilla-4 and 263 in Dhaka-18 constituency.
Team leader of EC’s Out of Country Voting (OCV) development and implementation (SDI) project Brig Gen (Retd) Saleem Ahmad Khan said the expat voters (from 16 countries) in the Americas and Oceania regions can register from Sunday midnight, while the registration process in East Asia, South America and Africa regions will continue for an additional five days.
The app will remain open for the expats staying in 16 countries from November 24 to 28, for the Bangladeshis staying in 42 other countries from November 29 to December 03, for the Bangladeshis staying in Saudi Arabia from December 04 to 08, the expats in 18 countries from December 09 to 13, for the Bangladeshis in 14 countries from December 14 to 18.
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.