Dhaka: The Election Commission (EC) has dispatched postal ballots to 293,147 expatriate voters in different countries over the last eight days to enable them to cast their votes in the 13th National Parliament election and referendum. Salim Ahmad Khan, team leader of the Out of Country Voting System Development and Implementation (OCV-SDI) project for expatriate voter registration, confirmed the matter, stating that the ballots were sent on Friday evening and over the previous seven days to expatriate voters across the world.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, postal ballots were sent to 57,360 expatriate voters in various countries on Friday alone, with the highest number, 22,000, dispatched to Saudi Arabia. Earlier on Thursday, 10,999 ballots were sent to the United Arab Emirates, 3,500 to the United Kingdom, 900 to Kuwait, and 17,500 to Saudi Arabia. EC officials noted that Saudi Arabia has received the highest number of postal ballots so far, with 57,343 ballots sent out of the total 293,147 dispatched worldwide.
The number of in-country postal voter registrations is expected to increase further. Salim Ahmad Khan mentioned that the number of registered in-country postal voters, including government employees, election duty personnel, and voters in legal custody, may reach 10 lakh. He also noted that expatriate voter registration could exceed six lakh, reflecting the EC’s commitment to facilitating voting access for expatriates.