Chief election commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin on Tuesday said the voting system of expatriates will be finalised shortly, following consultations with technical experts.
The CEC made this remark while inaugurating a daylong workshop on determining voting systems for expatriate Bangladeshis at the Election Training Institute (ETI) in the Dhaka鈥檚 Agargaon area.
Around 80 individuals, including experts and election officials, participated in the workshop, which aimed to gather insights from experts and representatives from Dhaka University, BUET, MIST and both government and non-government development partners, emphasising on the 鈥榩roxy voting鈥� system that postal or online voting.
The election commission hosted the workshop as part of an effort to introduce expatriate voting in some countries on a pilot basis, with initial consideration given to the 鈥榩roxy voting鈥� system.
The CEC mentioned that they鈥檙e giving top priority to ensuring the voting rights of expatriate Bangladeshis, saying: 鈥業 believe that today鈥檚 workshop will help in determining a specific voting method.鈥�
鈥楩ollowing the suggested approach, necessary steps will be taken to implement it, and a framework will be developed,鈥� he added.
He continued, 鈥楾he voting method will be piloted in certain countries before being expanded.鈥�
The CEC also said decisions will be made considering the social, political, and educational realities of expatriates. 鈥楢ny method we select for expatriate voting will first be tested on a small scale before being scaled up,鈥� he added.
Nasir Uddin reaffirmed the EC鈥檚 commitment similar to the interim government to facilitating expatriate voting in the next election.
The CEC further explained, 鈥楳any expatriates have approached us, requesting the opportunity to vote for them. However, we鈥檝e found that it is not straightforward.鈥�
鈥楢fter extensive review, we鈥檙e focusing on three methods: postal voting, which is currently in place, online voting, and proxy voting,鈥� he said, mentioning Germany as an example in the discussion.
During his keynote address at the workshop, election commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah said postal and online voting methods are unlikely to be effective here while proxy voting seems more appropriate.
