By Linda Khoo Hui Li
BANGKOK, April 8 (NNN-Bernama) — More than 70,000 Thais abroad have registered for advance oversea voting for the May 14 General Election.
The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Director-general of the Department of Consular Affairs Ruj Thammongkol said the registration for overseas voting began on March 25 and will end on 9 April (23.59 hours Thai time).
“As of 7 April, a total of 72,779 Thai voters have registered for overseas voting.
“It is expected (number of voters) will increase up to the number of Thai voters registered for the 2019 election, which was around 119,313,” he said.
To ensure the registration for overseas voting is accessible for all Thais living abroad, Ruj said Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been closely coordinating with the Ministry of Interior which is responsible for the online overseas voting registration system.
“Improvement to the online registration system has been made to ensure speedy and smooth registration,” he said.
Ruj said MFA has launched the Oversea Voting Coordination at the Department of Consular Affairs to enhance the preparations of overseas elections and prevent other challenges drawn from previous experiences.
“At the Oversea Voting Coordination, the officers are assigned to monitor the latest progress from the Royal Thai Embassies or Consulate General using the Overseas Voting Monitoring System (OVMS), which provides real-time updates from around the world, in order to ensure smooth and transparent arrangements,” he said.
Voters abroad will be casting their vote at the embassy/ consulate general or by post, as determined by the Thai embassy/ consulate general in the respective country and their votes will be counted in Thailand.
The Election Commission had set May 14 as polling day while advance polling on May 7.
— NNN-BERNAMA
