Staff Reporter:
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin yesterday said that the country is under-taking postal voting for the first time in its electoral history, despite the complexities and challeng-es involved.
The CEC told a dialogue session with representatives of registered political parties at the Election Commission building in Agargaon, in the city.
About preparations for the 13th Jatiya Sangsad Election, the CEC said that the introduction of postal voting and provisions for expatriates is a significant step forward.
He admitted the complexity of implementing this system, saying that many countries had strug-gled to introduce postal voting successfully in their elections. Despite these challenges, Bangladesh has moved forward with the initiative after conducting several trials.
“This year, we have introduced many new initiatives, including the postal voting system for expat-riates, a complicated issue that has never been addressed in our electoral history,” said Nasir Ud-din.
“Many countries could not successfully implement postal voting, but we have taken it on as a challenge and we have already started experimenting with it,” he added.
The CEC also said that the upcoming election would be marked by the inclusion of other new and complex issues. He also pointed to the substantial effort required in updating the voter list, which involved over 77,000 field staff who underwent special training.
“Besides, we are making provisions for various groups of voters who face unique challenges. This includes law enforcement officers, presiding officers and government employees, who often cannot cast their votes while on duty. We are making arrangements so they can vote even while perform-ing their responsibilities. This also applies to people in jails, as they too are citizens of this coun-try,” Nasir Uddin observed.
Election Commissioner Brigadier General Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah (retd), Tahmida Ahmed, Md Anwarul Islam Sarkar, Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed and other officials attended the dialogue.
Six political parties participated in yesterday’s morning session, including Gano Forum, Gano Front, Islamic Front Bangladesh, Islami Oikya Jote, Bangladesh Supreme Party (BSP) and Bangla-desh Jatiya Party.
Another dialogue with representatives from six more political parties, including Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Bangladesh National Awami Party (NAP), Trinamool BNP, Krishak Sramik Janata League, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish and Islami Andolan Bangladesh, is scheduled for later yesterday.
