Expatriate Enthusiasm: Postal Ballot Registrations Cross 300,000
More than 300,000 Bangladeshi expatriates have registered to vote by postal ballot in the 13th National Parliamentary Election and the national referendum, according to Shafiqul Alam, Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser.
He shared the update at a press briefing held on Wednesday, 10 December, at the state guesthouse Jamuna on Bailey Road in Dhaka.
Responding to a question on the public response, the Press Secretary said that over 300,000 expatriates have already completed their registration to exercise their voting rights through the postal ballot system. He described the participation of expatriate Bangladeshis as “enthusiastic and overwhelming.”
He noted that there are between 13 million and 15 million Bangladeshi expatriates living around the world. The deadline for registering to vote by postal ballot is 25 December.
When asked how many expatriates might register within the deadline, he said, “We want every Bangladeshi citizen living abroad to become a voter.”
Meanwhile, according to Postal Vote BD web data, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have surpassed the United States in the number of registered applicants.
As of the writing of this report, among a total of 300,416 registered applicants, over 82,000 are from Saudi Arabia, 24,000 from Qatar, and more than 20,000 from the United States.
