Dhaka, Bangladesh – Lengthy missed in Bangladesh’s electoral system, hundreds of thousands of expatriates – together with migrant employees who underpin the nation’s economic system – will be capable to vote in nationwide elections for the primary time, because the nation’s Election Fee strikes to lastly guarantee their participation within the democratic course of.
The Election Fee estimates that about 15 million Bangladeshi expatriates, together with migrant employees, reside within the Gulf, Europe, the Americas and Southeast Asia – accounting for greater than 10 p.c of the nation’s complete voters.
To facilitate their participation, the Election Fee will launch postal ballots, supported by an app known as Postal Vote BD. That is certainly one of a number of strikes to reform key state establishments, together with the electoral, judicial, and legislative techniques, by Bangladesh’s interim authorities, which was fashioned after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League occasion had been toppled in a mass uprising in 2024.
The interim authorities has scheduled extremely anticipated parliamentary elections for February 2026, however specialists warn that implementing an abroad voting system shall be removed from simple. Quite a bit is driving on the primary elections because the fall of Hasina’s authorities: Only four of Bangladesh’s 11 elections because the nation’s independence in 1971 have been thought of “free and honest”.
“The method is sort of a black field – if authenticity and transparency will not be maintained, the credibility of all the election might be known as into query,” stated Badiul Alam Majumdar, chief of the electoral reform fee, in an interview with Al Jazeera. “It’s a posh activity that requires in depth logistical preparation. It gained’t be simple, nor can or not it’s applied in all nations inside one election cycle. However you must begin someplace.”
Why couldn’t Bangladeshi expatriates vote earlier than?
Bangladesh’s structure has by no means explicitly barred expatriates from voting. Article 122 requires voters to be residents of voting age who’re registered to vote, however it doesn’t specify a residency requirement. Nonetheless, a 1982 ordinance added that voters should “ordinarily reside” of their constituency.
That ordinance was ultimately repealed with the introduction of the Electoral Rolls Act 2009, which got here into pressure in January 2009 and stays the present legislation. The Act recognises Bangladeshi residents dwelling overseas as residents of the constituency the place they final lived or the place their very own or ancestral house is situated.
Nonetheless, whereas expats lastly had the appropriate to vote, they didn’t have the means to take action. No steps had been taken to allow expatriates to truly vote.
“Previous elections grew to become a farce – there was no real intention to incorporate them,” stated Majumdar.
Following Hasina’s elimination, the nation’s reform commission has thought of varied strategies to allow expatriate voting, in the end selecting postal ballots supported by a cell app.
How will expat voting work?
The Postal Vote BD app, scheduled to launch by the primary week of November, will permit expats to register and monitor their ballots.
“Voters will register by way of the app utilizing their Nationwide ID (NID) quantity, which is linked to the Election Fee’s server to find out their constituency,” Akhtar Ahmed, senior secretary of the Election Fee, instructed Al Jazeera.
Postal ballots will then be despatched to the registered abroad handle in an envelope containing a poll paper and a pre-addressed envelope to return it by submit. The envelopes despatched out to voters will bear a QR code, which confirms supply within the app when scanned by the recipient.
“After marking their alternative, voters seal the poll and ship it from any submit workplace. A barcode on the return envelope permits them to trace its progress. Ballots are despatched on to the native returning officer underneath preparations with the Common Postal Union – embassies and diplomatic missions will not be concerned,” Ahmed added.
He dismissed issues about envelopes being tampered with on their approach again to Bangladesh. “As soon as the vote is forged and sealed within the envelope, solely the returning officer will open it. Any envelope opened or intercepted in transit shall be instantly obvious,” he stated.
Did Bangladeshi employees abroad assist the 2024 rebellion?
Sure. When former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina intensified her crackdown on protesters through the July 2024 rebellion, Bangladeshi migrant employees all over the world launched a remittance boycott marketing campaign in defiance. Remittances are the paycheques earned abroad which Bangladeshi employees ship again to their households at house – these kind a big a part of Bangladesh’s economic system. Within the monetary 12 months following Hasina’s elimination, expats and migrant employees despatched a document $30bn again to Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi employees additionally risked arrest to affix rallies all through Gulf nations in 2024 to sentence Hasina’s actions. Greater than 100 employees had been detained within the United Arab Emirates, lots of whom had been later launched after the newly put in interim authorities intervened.
On account of their actions, debates in regards to the honest remedy and voting rights of migrant employees have grow to be central to discussions amongst interim authorities policymakers over reforms.
“Our migrant employees are the nation’s remittance warriors – it’s their proper to vote. They performed a significant position in ousting the autocrat, so securing their voting rights is important,” Majumdar stated.
Might the expat vote tip the steadiness in Bangladesh’s upcoming election?
“Expatriate voters make up greater than 10 p.c of the voters, and in some constituencies they account for practically a fifth of complete voters. In a first-past-the-post system, that share can tip shut races,” stated Khaled Saifullah, joint convener of the Nationwide Citizen Social gathering (NCP), based by the scholars who led the rebellion towards Hasina final 12 months.
He emphasised that the importance goes past numbers. The diaspora tends to be politically conscious, financially steady and intently related to their house districts. Their participation can affect households and communities again house, shaping each turnout and public opinion.
“So, the affect of expatriate voting could also be felt not solely within the poll depend but additionally within the total temper and momentum of the election,” he added.
Denied the appropriate to vote for many years, Bangladeshi expatriates’ newfound suffrage ushers the nation’s electoral panorama into uncharted territory. For political events, it opens a brand new campaigning frontier with hundreds of thousands of potential voters throughout the Center East, Malaysia and Europe.
The best problem for political events shall be partaking with this huge abroad voters.
Misinformation and disinformation on social media additionally pose challenges. Nonetheless, politicians like Saifullah imagine that when armed with details, expatriates, who are usually very lively on-line and are well-informed, show a superb capability to counter falsehoods themselves.
“In that sense, they aren’t merely potential victims of misinformation – they’re additionally our strongest line of defence towards it,” he stated.
What do migrant employees need – and what are politicians providing them?
Tahsin Shakil, a Bangladeshi migrant employee dwelling within the Gulf, stated he hoped the mistreatment many migrant employees face at airports and the dismissive perspective of embassies to issues they encounter the place they reside could be addressed.
He described how employees are sometimes subjected to lengthy interrogations on the airports, arbitrary baggage checks, and impolite behaviour by airport officers, whereas embassies incessantly ignore their complaints or delay issuing important paperwork equivalent to passports and work attestations.
“The nation’s economic system relies on us, however we’re handled like third-class residents,” he stated.
That is what the principle contenders within the upcoming election are saying about their issues:
Nationwide Citizenship Social gathering (NCP)
Saifullah, of the student-led NCP, stated expats ought to not be considered solely when it comes to the worth of the remittances they ship house. “Our manifesto recognises them as companions in rebuilding the state and ambassadors of Bangladesh overseas,” he stated.
His occasion’s manifesto pledges to safe expatriate voting rights, finish harassment at embassies and airports, and supply emergency assist for residents in misery abroad.
It additionally guarantees digital entry to public companies, assist for returnees, and a framework for direct expatriate participation in policymaking – transferring past seeing expatriates as solely remittance senders to recognising them as key companions in nationwide improvement.
“Our intention is straightforward: distance shouldn’t imply disenfranchisement,” Saifullah added.
Bangladesh Nationalist Social gathering (BNP)
Saimum Parvez, a member of the BNP and particular assistant on the Overseas Affairs Committee, stated the occasion would prioritise making circumstances higher for migrant employees abroad. “The BNP envisions that each Bangladeshi embassy all over the world will tackle higher accountability for the welfare of expatriates, guaranteeing they’re not subjected to harassment, whereas additionally working to create jobs and strengthen bilateral commerce,” he stated.
He added that the BNP is already intently concerned with diaspora communities. “The BNP has diaspora committees the world over. I don’t suppose it is going to be tough for the BNP to achieve these voters although this established community worldwide.
“The BNP is now extremely centered on policy-based politics, aiming to enhance folks’s lives. We’ve got already introduced insurance policies on agriculture, employment, and schooling, and within the coming months, we’ll element how these will rework the lives of peculiar residents. For that motive, I imagine the diaspora neighborhood will vote for the BNP.”
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
Shishir Manir, a Supreme Courtroom lawyer and MP candidate for Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, additionally claimed the issues of expats had been central to the occasion’s insurance policies. He instructed Al Jazeera: “Jamaat was the primary occasion to lift the problem of facilitating expatriate voters. I filed a petition within the Supreme Courtroom looking for a directive for the Election Fee to take efficient measures to allow expatriate voting, and the courtroom accepted it.
“Throughout my current visits to the UK and the Gulf, I discovered Bangladeshi expatriates extremely motivated to vote for Jamaat. We’re proposing a one-stop service centre for expatriates who face complicated land and prison circumstances. They need smoother companies, and we intend to offer that.
“We additionally intention to create a conducive surroundings that encourages expatriates to speculate again house. Lots of them have expressed concern over the mismanagement and mistreatment surrounding baggage dealing with at Dhaka airport – we’ll handle these points as nicely.”
