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Published : 08 Feb 2026, 02:48 PM
More than 500,000 expatriate Bangladeshis have cast their votes in the upcoming general election through the postal ballot system, according to election officials.
According to the Election Commission (EC), about 534,000 expatriates have voted so far, with more than 428,000 completed ballots having already returned to Bangladesh by post as of 11am on Sunday.
Data from the EC’s postal ballot app show that 534,441 expatriates have cast votes, while 484,765 voters have completed their ballots and submitted them to post offices or official mailboxes in their respective countries.
The EC has sent postal ballots to a total of 766,862 expatriates ahead of the 13th parliamentary elections and referendum on Feb 12. As of Sunday morning, 527,450 expatriates have received their ballots.
The EC says that all respected voters who have registered for postal voting but have not yet scanned the QR code printed on the envelope by 11:59pm (Bangladesh time) on Tuesday.
If it is not scanned before then, the ballot will be declared invalid.
About 1.53 million voters in Bangladesh and abroad have registered to vote using postal ballots this time, more than half of whom are expatriates.
Postal voting has also been extended to election officials, government employees posted outside their constituencies, and voters in custody inside Bangladesh.
The EC has sent postal ballots to 760,898 voters within the country as of 11am on Sunday.
Of them, 443,542 voters have collected ballots and 388,898 have completed their voting and 344,826 have sent their ballots to the post office or mailbox after voting.
The commission says that if a voter completes their ballot immediately after receiving it and submits the yellow envelope to the nearest post office by Tuesday at the latest, it will be possible for the vote to reach their constituency’s returning officer on time.
Those postal ballots that reach the returning officer's office by 4:30pm on Feb 12, election day, will be counted.
