Dhaka, Nov. 24 -- More than 20,000 expatriate Bangladeshis have registered in the first five days to vote by post in the upcoming 13th parliamentary election, according to Election Commission data.

The registrations are being carried out through the newly launched "Postal Vote BD" app, which opened on Nov 19 for expatriates living in East Asia, South America and Africa. A second phase for voters in North America and Oceania began at midnight on Sunday.

In total, Bangladeshis in 71 countries across these regions are eligible to sign up.

Early data shows the strongest response from expatriates in South Korea, with nearly 8,000 registering so far. Japan, South Africa and China follow in the list of top participating countries.

By distric...