The Electoral System Reform Commission has recommended expediting the registration of expatriate Bangladeshis as voters using passport database information, enabling them to participate in the next general election through postal balloting.
It also proposed creating a technical taskforce to introduce an online voting system alongside postal balloting to facilitate expatriate voting.
Led by Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, the reform commission submitted its report with 150 recommendations in 16 chapters to Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday.
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The commission emphasised registering all expatriates in the electoral rolls and national identity server swiftly.
“Since all expatriate Bangladeshis have passports, the registration process should be completed in a faster time using the information stored in the passport database,” the commission says.
The commission recommended that expatriates registered by October 2025 be allowed to vote in the national election through a proposed postal voting system.
IT-enabled Postal Voting System
To ensure transparency in postal voting, the commission suggested developing two mobile applications—Voter App and Verifier App—for Android and iOS platforms. A backend system for the apps would also be required to support the process securely.
It proposed implementing an immutable audit trail for database security and extensive testing before deploying the system in elections.
In the initial phase, the system would be trialed in one country with 50 to 100 expatriate voters. It would later expand to five to ten countries, engaging 1,000 to 5,000 voters and eventually to as many countries as possible with over 20,000 participants.
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The system could also be adapted for absentee voters within the country with minor modifications, the commission noted.
Online voting system
The commission suggested forming a technical taskforce comprising national and international experts in blockchain, security, and privacy-enhancing technologies to develop an online voting system.
“Once the system is built, it should be properly tested to ensure its functionalities, security, and usability,” it said in its report.
It also called for alternative solutions for voters without smartphones to ensure inclusivity.
Expatriate statistics
According to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training (BMET), over 16 million Bangladeshis have worked abroad from 1976 to 2023.
Saudi Arabia hosts the largest share, with 5.77 million, followed by the UAE (2.6 million), Oman (1.88 million), Malaysia (1.46 million), Singapore (938,365), and Qatar (902,451).
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The Election Commission began registering expatriates as voters in 2023.
Currently, voter registration is ongoing in six countries: the UAE (May 2023), Italy, the UK and Saudi Arabia (October 2023), Qatar and Kuwait (March 2024), and Malaysia (July 2024).