Dhaka: The Election Commission (EC) has successfully sent postal ballot papers to 376,309 Bangladeshi expatriate voters residing in various countries over the past 10 days. This effort enables them to participate in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad election and the accompanying referendum.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Salim Ahmad Khan, who leads the Out of Country Voting System Development and Implementation (OCV-SDI) project for expatriate voter registration, confirmed that the postal ballots were dispatched as of yesterday and during the previous nine days to expatriates around the globe. Khan mentioned that registration for in-country postal voting is also anticipated to rise, with the number of registered voters, including government employees, election duty officials, and legal custody voters, expected to reach one million.
Khan further stated that the number of registered expatriate Bangladeshi voters is projected to exceed 600,000. EC sources reported that on the most recent day, postal ballots were sent to 37,612 expatriate voters across various countries. Notably, on Saturday, 45,550 postal ballots were sent to Saudi Arabia alone.
Earlier dispatches included 57,360 postal ballots sent worldwide on Friday, with Saudi Arabia receiving the highest number at 22,000. On Thursday, the EC sent 10,999 postal ballots to the United Arab Emirates, 3,500 to the United Kingdom, 900 to Kuwait, and 17,500 to Saudi Arabia. In total, 376,309 postal ballots have been sent globally over the last 10 days, as confirmed by EC officials.
Saudi Arabia received the largest allocation of postal ballots, with 122,393 Bangladeshi expatriate voters receiving their ballot papers.