Expatriate Bangladeshis will cast their votes in the parliamentary elections through a proxy system. A trusted family member residing in the country, such as a spouse, child, parent, or sibling, will vote on their behalf for their preferred candidate.
The voter will authorize the trusted individual through a specific format provided by the Election Commission (EC). This system will be implemented starting from the 13th national elections.
After thorough deliberation, the Election Commission (EC) has chosen this as a viable method. A minor amendment will be made to the Representation of the People Order (RPO) of 1972 to facilitate this. While the EC had previously considered postal ballots and e-voting, it has opted to abandon those methods due to concerns over cost and time, ultimately settling on the proxy voting system.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi AMM Nasir Uddin informed Liberty News that the Representation of the People Order (RPO) includes provisions for postal ballots. However, this method takes up to 26 days for the entire voting process, which is not feasible between the finalization of candidates and the election day. Additionally, the voting result announcement happen on the same day, making the postal ballot system impractical.
The CEC further explained that the second option was e-voting. However, the experience in countries where e-voting has been implemented has not been favorable. Moreover, it requires a substantial budget, which is not feasible. In this regard, the proxy voting system emerged as a simpler and more reliable solution.
Upon investigation, it was found that Estonia conducted its national elections in 2023 via online voting, achieving the highest voter participation in the country’s history. Meanwhile, France offers in-person, postal ballots, proxy voting, and expatriate voting was implemented in the 2022 presidential election, which also saw the highest voter turnout.
In the 2020 US presidential election, both postal and electronic voting (EVM) were used. In some states, voting was conducted via email. Australia used postal ballots in-person voting in the 2022 federal elections. India’s 2019 general elections included proxy
& in-person voting, with voting also made possible through advance registration.
In Canada’s 2021 federal elections, both postal and electronic voting systems were employed. Drawing from these examples, the Election Commission (EC) is working on implementing various methods for expatriates to vote, including postal voting, proxy voting, in-person voting at embassies consulates, electronic voting (online or email), hybrid systems. However, the EC is prioritizing the proxy voting system.
Multiple sources within the EC have revealed that the concept of proxy voting is already practiced in countries like New Zealand, where the focus is solely on trustworthiness. Consequently, the EC has decided to move forward with this method.
Election Commissioner Anwarul Islam Sarker told Liberty News that the Election Commission is deeply committed to ensuring expatriate voters’ rights and their ability to cast ballots. He noted that e-voting has been piloted in several countries with support from the UNDP, other donor organizations, but the results have not been satisfactory. Many countries are moving away from e-voting due to negative experiences.
The commissioner explained that just as individuals transfer their assets to a trusted person through a power of attorney in their absence, expatriates will assign trusted family members, such as a spouse or children, to cast their votes on their behalf in accordance with the Election Commission’s regulations. This will allow for the fulfillment of expatriates’ long-standing aspiration to vote in elections.
The Election Commission, after gathering data from various agencies, has identified 40 countries with significant expatriate populations. These include Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Sudan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, UK, Italy, Hong Kong, Egypt, Brunei, Mauritius, Iraq, US, Canada, Japan, Australia, Greece, Spain, Germany, South Africa, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Maldives, New Zealand, Russia, Turkey, and Cyprus. In total, there are 14 million 46 thousand 534 expatriates in these countries, with Saudi Arabia having the largest population of 4 million 49 thousand 588, New Zealand the smallest with just 2,500 expatriates.
According to the current voter list, there are 123.7 million voters in the country. Of these, 62.1 million are male, 59.7 million are female, and 932 are hijra voters. An additional 3 million voters are expected to be added to the list during the ongoing update in June.
LND/S H
