The Election Commission (EC) is going to find ways once again to make Bangladeshi expatriates living in different parts of the world eligible to vote. EC sources said they would sort out the issue of the expatriates’ voting rights at a seminar today (Thursday). Some sources said the EC would take the seminal step to make the expatriates living in Saudi Arabia the first oversees voters. The sources further said such initiatives had been discussed by the last two commissions, but they could not find ways to sort out the issue. Various quarters, including political parties, civil society and mass media, had urged the EC to make the expatriates eligible to vote. The EC has felt the need to make expatriates eligible to vote because they make a huge contribution to the national economy by remitting hard-earned money to the country.

However, these expatriates very often face trouble for not having national identity (NID) cards. When they return to Bangladesh, they are deprived of various services, such as buying or selling land and opening bank accounts, the EC sources said.

The expatriates are even deprived of their voting rights to elect their representatives, the sources said.

The commission is thus going to enlist them in the voters’ list through registration.

However, the EC alone cannot take the decision. They need the cooperation of the foreign ministry, home ministry, expatriate ministry, labour and employment ministry, the passport department and Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL).

The director general of the NID's registration wing, Brig. Gen. Saidul Islam, said: “We know about the contribution of expatriate Bangladeshis. It requires the coordination of different ministries to make them voters.” The EC will hold the seminar at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon in the capital to reach a consensus on the issue.

The seminar will be attended by the full Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda, economic affairs adviser to the Prime Minister, Dr Mashiur Rahman, BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan, and Jatiya Party co-chairman GM Quader.

Senior officials of the foreign ministry, home ministry, minister and deputy chief of the Bangladesh Mission in the US Mahbub Hasan Saleh, ambassadors of Italy and Malaysia, as well as civil society members will also be present at the seminar.

“We hope we’ll be able to reach a consensus on the expatriates’ voting rights,” EC secretary Helaluddin Ahmad told The Independent yesterday (Wednesday).

It is learnt that the Shamsul Huda-led commission took the initiatives and two of the commissioners visited the United Kingdom to gather experience, but it did not work out for various reasons. Later, the Kazi Rakib Uddin-led commission took the initiative regarding the expatriates’ voting rights. The Commission wanted to collect biometric information online, but nothing happened. This time, the current EC will seek the opinions of all to reach a consensus on the expatriates’ voting rights.