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Bangladesh’s Election Commission (EC) is set to launch voter registration and national identity card (NID) services for expatriate Bangladeshis in Japan later this month and in Canada in early September.
Technical teams have already completed the installation of equipment and training at mission offices in Tokyo, Toronto and Ottawa, according to the commission's NID Registration Wing Director-General ASM Humayun Kabir.
“The equipment has been installed, and test-and-trial services are under way. A formal inauguration will take place soon,” he said.
EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed is currently in Japan to oversee preparations and training. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin will travel to Canada on Aug 28 to inaugurate the service there.
The launch comes after delays in Japan, where services had originally been scheduled to begin in July but were postponed due to local complications. A technical team has been working in Canada since Aug 10.
Once operational, expatriate Bangladeshis in 10 countries will be able to access the NID service through 17 embassies and mission offices.
Calls for expatriate Bangladeshis to be included in the electoral roll and issued NIDs date back to 2007-2008, when the country first introduced a photo-based voter list.
Online registration for expatriates began in Malaysia in late 2019 but was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme was restarted in July 2023 but stalled again after the government changeover. The current EC has since relaunched the initiative.
At present, NID services are available for expatriates in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Italy, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia and Australia.
According to EC officials, by mid-May, more than 45,000 applications had been received across seven countries, of which nearly 29,000 completed biometric registration. More than 3,500 applications were rejected after verification, and over 21,000 remain under review. So far, over 11,000 expatriates have received their national identity cards.
The commission plans to gradually expand NID services to 40 countries.