Expatriate Bangladeshi vote via postal ballot to cost Tk 700 each

The Election Commission is preparing for a cost of Tk 700 per vote for expatriate Bangladeshis using postal ballots.

The “Postal Vote BD” app, developed for overseas voters, will be launched in the third week of November.

Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah shared the update at an online exchange with the Bangladesh High Commission in London and expatriate Bangladeshis on “out of country voting” on Wednesday.

Outlining the initiative, he said: “This time the government will spend Tk 700 per expatriate vote. But registration and voting rates through postal ballots are low. Despite the high cost, postal voting is being arranged on rational grounds, though expectations must be kept limited.”

Discussing global postal voting trends, Sanaullah pointed out that the registration rate for postal voting among expatriates globally stands at only 2.7 percent, with less than 30 percent of registered voters actually casting their ballots. 

In India, for instance, out of 40 million expatriates, only 119,000 registered, and only 2,900 cast their votes, he said.

KEY CHALLENGES

Sanaullah outlined several challenges in the registration and voting process for expatriates.

He said the global wastage rate for postal ballots is 24 percent, meaning one in every four ballots never reaches its destination.

“One key reason is that when an individual registers for out-of-country voting, the address provided is often not valid, so the ballot does not arrive,” he added. 

“In other cases, the ballot is delivered but voters fail to return it on time, making it ineligible for counting.”

According to him, two major obstacles stand out. The first is confidentiality -- ensuring that voters abroad protect the secrecy of their ballots, cast their votes on time, and are not influenced by others.

To reinforce this, voters will be required to sign a declaration that they will not disclose who they voted for, Sanaullah said.

The second challenge relates to last-minute changes in the candidate list. 

He said: “After the final list of candidates is confirmed, expatriate voting will begin. But if, at the last moment, a court order changes the candidate list in any constituency, then all ballots collected from abroad for that seat will be discarded.

The commission, led by AMM Nasir Uddin, is expected to announce the election schedule in December, with polls likely in the first half of February before Ramadan.