Special Correspondent , Dbarta24 — In a major effort to ensure the voting rights of non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs), the Election Commission (EC) is expanding its overseas voter registration and National Identity (NID) card distribution services to five additional countries.
Alongside expanding its geographical footprint, the election authority has streamlined the online registration procedure to make the process significantly faster and less complicated for expatriates.
The new phase of expansion will bring Bahrain, Sweden, Singapore, Norway, and Finland under the EC’s consular NID framework. Preparations are complete to launch operations in Bahrain, Sweden, and Singapore within the month.
Under the scheduled plan, Election Commissioner Anwarul Islam Sarkar will inaugurate the services in Sweden, while Election Commissioner Brig. Gen. (Retd.) A.F.M. Sanaullah will oversee the rollout in Singapore.
Although initially slated for this month, the inauguration in Bahrain was briefly postponed due to the evolving security situation in the Middle East; Senior Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud is expected to launch the service in Bahrain early next month.
Furthermore, Bangladeshis residing in Norway and Finland will be able to register through the Bangladesh Embassy in Sweden, as both countries receive consular services via the Stockholm mission.
The registration process relies on Bangladeshi diplomatic missions abroad to collect applications, which are then vetted, processed, and printed by the EC in Dhaka.
However, plans for France have been put on hold. Although the EC intended to extend registration services to Paris, the Bangladesh Embassy in France notified the commission that it is not yet fully equipped or trained to execute the program, leading to a temporary suspension of the rollout in the country.
Expansion and Post-Election Growth
Prior to the 13th Parliamentary Election and National Referendum on February 12, the EC launched voter registration and NID distribution across 24 stations in 14 countries.
With the addition of these five new nations, the electoral body will now cover 19 countries globally.
Current operations span key diplomatic posts, including:
| Region | Stations Covered |
| Middle East | Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait City, Doha, Muscat |
| Europe | London, Manchester, Birmingham, Rome, Milan |
| Americas | Ottawa, Toronto, New York, Miami, Washington D.C., Los Angeles |
| Asia-Pacific & Africa | Kuala Lumpur, Canberra, Sydney, Tokyo, Male, Pretoria |
In the five months following the national election, over 100,000 expatriates have submitted new applications across these stations, with nearly 30,000 already receiving their official NID cards.
Driving Enfranchisement Following the 2024 Uprising
The current Election Commission undertook the initiative to fulfill a longstanding demand of the diaspora following the political shifts after the 2024 mass uprising.
Under the IDEA Project (Phase 2), the EC mobilized the Postal Voting BD initiative alongside an online dashboard system ahead of the election.
Through these digital platforms, 772,542 expatriates registered and secured their NIDs. Postal ballots were subsequently dispatched to 766,862 addresses; over 518,000 expatriates received their ballots, resulting in a final tally of 458,059 overseas votes cast.
According to EC officials, the initial target was to enable over 5 million out of the estimated 15 million non-resident Bangladeshis living across 160 countries to vote in the February 12 polls.
However, technical constraints and strict time limitations prevented them from reaching that scale. With the general election concluded, the commission is refocusing its resources to scale up the process globally.
Although legal provisions to include expatriates in voter rolls were introduced in 2009, pilot projects in Malaysia and the UAE in November 2019 yielded minimal engagement due to system constraints.
The current commission redesigned and upgraded the technological infrastructure post-uprising, accelerating the overall pace of enfranchisement.
Simplified Single-Tier NID Registration
To eliminate bureaucratic hurdles, the Election Commission has officially overhauled the registration procedure.
Following decisions made at the EC’s 12th Commission meeting on July 21, the former two-tier verification mechanism has been condensed into a single-tier online process.
Under the previous system, applicants faced an initial investigation phase upon submitting their forms, followed by biometric data collection and a secondary investigation before approval.
Under the newly updated framework, expatriate applicants can now upload their biometric data—including fingerprints—directly into the system through the designated application alongside their documents.
By removing the redundant pre-investigation step in Dhaka, the Election Commission can now verify details directly from the digital system and issue approvals significantly faster.