Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah on Wednesday said that the Election Commission is planning to form an advisory team comprising experts to finalize the balloting system for expatriate Bangladeshis residing in various countries around the world.
“This time, we will be able to include expatriates in the voting process—whether on a small or large scale,” he said during a press briefing at the Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital.
Md Sanaullah also discussed the outcomes of a workshop held on Tuesday by the Election Commission, which aimed to gather opinions from technical experts on determining a suitable voting system for expatriates.
He said the experts suggested that a single voting method would not be sufficient for Bangladesh; rather, a mixed system would be more appropriate.
Sanaullah noted that each system—postal, online, or proxy voting—has its own merits and limitations. All of them will require trial runs, mock testing, and possibly piloting before they can be introduced on a larger scale.
“We will form an advisory team today with experts from among the workshop participants. This team will work over the next 10 to 12 days to address the weaknesses of the three systems—postal, online, and proxy—and make them more robust and practical,” the election commissioner said.
He added that it was the chief adviser who initially emphasized the importance of ensuring voting rights for expatriates.
Out of 178 countries in the world, 115 have provisions allowing their citizens abroad to vote.
The most commonly used method is manual voting at embassies, followed by postal voting, and then online or proxy voting, he added.
“We are not ruling out or favoring any single option,” said Md Sanaullah. “Our goal is to at least introduce a system that enables expatriates to cast their votes.”
He further noted that although a postal balloting system currently exists for expatriate Bangladeshis, it has proven to be ineffective.
“Not a single expatriate cast their vote in the 12th parliamentary election through the postal balloting system,” he said.
