Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on Tuesday said the Election Commission’s initiatives to facilitate expatriate voting will prove ineffective without the active support of political parties.

“We want to introduce a feasible option. We seek your support. Even on a small scale, we want to begin the journey…if political leaders do not support us, all our exercises will end in futility,” he said while inaugurating a seminar at the Nirbachan Bhaban in the morning.

The Election Commission arranged the seminar on voting from abroad in a bid to find an effective mechanism to ensure the voting rights of expatriate Bangladeshis in the next general election.

Political leaders from various parties, including BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the National Citizen Party (NCP), along with election experts, technical specialists and journalists, participated in the discussion.

The commission aims to introduce a hybrid method in combination with postal ballot, online voting and proxy voting—at least on a limited scale during the upcoming 13th parliamentary election.

When they took office, the CEC said, they pledged to introduce a voting system for expatriates. “We’re committed, and so is the chief adviser to the nation.”

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He noted that expatriates have long been demanding voting rights, a view echoed by political leaders and the media. “We’ve been working on this from the beginning—conducting in-house exercises, consulting experts, and trying to determine the most suitable option to introduce.”

The CEC stressed the importance of aligning the decision with the country’s socio-economic and political realities, and the general education level of the population.

“Our experts have worked tirelessly over the past few months and provided some suggestions. Amid time constraints and limitations, we want to share with you where we stand and what we’ve done,” he said.

Reiterating his call for political support, he said, “If political leaders do not support us, it will all end in futility.”

He expressed hope that balloting for expatriates could be introduced—at least on a small scale—in the next national election. “We want to start in the next election, at least in a limited way. Many countries have tried but couldn’t sustain it. Some succeeded, some didn’t. But we want to begin—hopefully with your support.”  

BNP leaders Nazrul Islam Khan, Ismail Jabiullah, and Syed Emran Saleh Prince; Jamaat leaders Jasim Uddin and Matiur Rahman Akand; and NCP leader Khaled Saifullah, among others, attended the seminar.

In his address to the nation on December 16, 2024, Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus said the government is determined to ensure that expatriate Bangladeshis are able to exercise their right to vote.

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“We have heard assurances about this many times in the past. We want to ensure that this is implemented for the first time during the tenure of this government…a reliable system must be developed for this,” he said.

Following the chief adviser’s commitment, the EC formed a committee headed by Election Commissioner Brig Gen (Retd) Abdul Fazal Md Sanaullah to examine different balloting systems and determine the best way to ensure voting rights for expatriate Bangladeshis.

The EC is currently exploring three balloting options—proxy, postal and online voting.

To determine the best approach, the Election Commission held a workshop on April 7 and 8, bringing together experts from Dhaka University, Buet, MIST, NGOs and former EC officials.

Although exact data on expatriate voters is unavailable, the EC has collected information from 44 Bangladeshi missions in 34 countries.

The estimated number of expatriates is now 13.2 million.