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Over 4,000 expatriate Bangladeshis registered on Thursday, the first day of the “Postal Vote BD” app launched by the Election Commission in a bid to allow more Bangladeshis residing abroad to participate in the upcoming national election.
As of 7:30 pm on Thursday, a total of 4,026 voters had registered through the app, including 3,783 men and 243 women. Registration is currently ongoing in countries across East Asia, South America, and Africa. South Korea recorded the highest number of registrations with 2,144 voters, followed by Japan with 828 voters, according to the EC Secretariat.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on November 18 last inaugurated “Postal Vote BD”, opened for the expatriates on Wednesday evening.
According to the EC, the number of registered expatriate voters continues to rise steadily. The registration process will run in phases across 143 countries worldwide until December 23.
As of Thursday evening, 405 expatriates from South Africa, 382 from China, 69 from Egypt, 67 from Libya, 19 from Uganda, 16 from Mozambique, 20 from Mauritius, 12 from Liberia, 11 from Nigeria, and 9 from Botswana had registered to vote.
This is the first time the EC has introduced a hybrid postal ballot system – consisting of online registration and manual voting- for Bangladeshis living abroad to participate in the election.
The registration schedule for the 35-day process is divided by region:
The expats living in East Asia, South America, Africa can register on November 19–23; North America, Oceania on November 24–28, Europe on November 29–December 3, Middle East on December 4–8 (except Saudi Arabia), South and Southeast Asia on December 9–13 and Middle East (including Saudi Arabia) on December 14–18.
Bangladeshi government officials, election duty officers, and those who are behind the bar (in legal custody) can register on December 19–23.