Postal voting registration temporarily suspended in seven countries including Saudi Arabia

Registration for expatriate postal voters in Bahrain, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates has been temporarily suspended due to incomplete or inaccurate addresses provided by applicants through the 'Postal Vote BD' app.

The Election Commission (EC) disclosed the information on Thursday in a press release signed by Md. Ruhul Amin Mollik, Director (Public Relations) and Information Officer at the EC Secretariat.

The release said the registration process in the affected countries has been put on hold because voters failed to submit full and proper addresses, which are necessary to deliver ballot papers via postal mail. The EC added that further instructions will be issued in due course.

For the first time, Bangladeshi expatriates will be able to vote by postal ballot in the upcoming 13th National Parliamentary Election and the referendum.

According to the latest update on the EC website, 53,096 overseas voters had registered through the 'Postal Vote BD' app as of 1 pm on Thursday.