By Habibur Rahman

DHAKA, Mar 5, 2026 (BSS) – About 96 percent of expatriate voters from 20 countries, including Saudi Arabia, cast their ballots through the postal voting system in the 13th parliamentary election and referendum, Election Commission (EC) officials said.

Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah said the high turnout indicates that expanding voter registration and National Identity (NID) services in those countries could further strengthen the postal voting system in the future.

According to EC data, a total of 7, 67,233 expatriate voters from 123 countries registered to cast their ballots through the “Postal Vote BD” app.

Of them, 2, 37,569 voters are from Saudi Arabia, accounting for around 35 percent of the total expatriate voters, EC officials said.

They added that there remains significant potential to increase the number of expatriate voters in Saudi Arabia. If proper initiatives are taken to expand voter registration there, nearly half of the expatriate voters could come from Saudi Arabia alone in the future.

Officials also said around 75 percent of voters applied from 10 countries, which have been identified as key focus areas for improving the postal voting system.

Under the Out of Country Voting (OCV) System Development and Implementation (SDI) Project, Team Leader Salim Ahmad Khan told BSS that 5,44,380 expatriate voters cast their ballots out of the 767,233 registered voters through the Postal Vote BD app.

“This means around 70.95 percent of registered expatriate voters exercised their franchise through postal ballots,” he said.

According to him, returning officers received 498,266 postal ballots from expatriates, which is about 65 percent of the total expatriate votes. Of these, 498,205 ballots were accepted as valid votes.

Salim Ahmad Khan said around 96 percent of expatriate voters from 20 countries applied for postal voting, while nearly 75 percent of voters from another 10 countries also submitted applications.

“These countries are our focus areas. We need to develop a structured system to keep these countries within the postal voting framework in the coming years,” he said.

He also noted that Oman’s system performed particularly well, with around 80 percent of ballots from its 56,066 registered voters successfully reaching Bangladesh.

“This experience can be used to improve postal voting operations in other countries, where the return rate of ballots was comparatively lower,” he added.

According to EC data, the number of approved registered expatriate voters includes 84,195 from Malaysia, 75,886 from Qatar, 56,066 from Oman, 38,318 from the United Arab Emirates, 35,262 from Kuwait, 32,305 from the United Kingdom, 30,799 from the United States, 24,376 from Italy, 19,678 from Bahrain and 17,765 from Singapore.

Other countries include 14,623 from Canada, 10,916 from South Korea, 11,114 from Australia, 9,020 from the Maldives, 8,525 from Japan, 8,378 from France, 8,221 from Portugal, 6,062 from Germany and 5,350 from South Africa.

Salim Ahmad Khan said voter registration, NID services and other facilities should be expanded in these countries. 

He also stressed the importance of keeping the Postal Vote BD app updated, enabling expatriates to maintain quick communication with Bangladesh and receive timely updates, including information on NID registration.

Looking ahead, he said the postal voting system could also be introduced in local government elections, including city corporation, upazila and union council polls, which would significantly increase the use of postal ballots.

He further suggested that dependents of government officials, senior citizens, persons with disabilities and media professionals could also be brought under the postal voting system through legal provisions.

According to the EC, a total of 1,528,131 voters registered for postal voting in the 13th parliamentary election and referendum through the Postal Vote BD app.

Among them, 7, 60,898 voters registered under the in-country postal voting category, while 7, 67,233 expatriate voters registered from abroad.