The Election Commission (EC) is considering the "proxy voting system" as the best available option to ensure voting rights for expatriates.

Election Commissioner Brigadier General (Retd) Abul Fazl Md Sanaullah said, "We now have to choose the best among limited options. If we truly want to provide our expatriates with the opportunity to vote, we must adopt either one option or a combination of multiple options."

He made these remarks this afternoon during a briefing with journalists after meeting with the heads of missions from OIC member states in Bangladesh at the EC building in Agargaon, Dhaka.

Asked whether proxy voting leads to a lack of trust in the electoral process for expatriates, EC Abul Fazl said, "If we aim to facilitate voting for expatriates on a large scale, proxy voting seems to be the only practical solution. The other two methods could be tested at the pilot level, but implementing them on a large scale may not be feasible."

"This system is already in place in India for defence personnel. Additionally, some European Union countries, such as France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, also have similar arrangements. Postal ballots are no longer effective for us. The time between printing the ballot papers and the actual voting day is too short to send, collect, and return the ballots for counting," he said.

He further said, "The second option is online voting. However, as the Egyptian ambassador mentioned, their experience with online voting was not good, leading them to discontinue the system. On the other hand, while the Pakistani ambassador spoke positively about online voting, they have not been able to implement it on a full scale."

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin, along with three election commissioners and the EC secretary, briefed the heads of missions from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states in Bangladesh on preparations for the upcoming 13th National Parliamentary Election.

The heads of missions from Afghanistan, Algeria, Brunei Darussalam, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates were invited to attend. However, ambassadors or representatives from seven countries, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, did not participate.