Overseas Myanmar advance voters for election reach up to over 22,000

The number of overseas Myanmar casting votes in advance for the upcoming Nov. 8 general election reached 22,187 as of Wednesday since Oct. 13, an official report said Friday.

Myanmar has set up polling stations at its 44 embassies and consulates around the world for vote casting by its more than 29,000 overseas citizens deemed eligible to vote.

The Union Election Commission is also making arrangement for those overseas Myanmar who fail to cast advance votes by Oct. 23 deadline to do so on Nov. 8 election day from inside the country by presenting recommendations from respective Myanmar foreign offices.

Domestically, advance voting, which will run from Oct. 29 to Nov. 7 , will be allowed for such eligible persons as political candidates, local observers, media personnel and department officials.

Meanwhile, the commission announced on Thursday that its ward and village sub-election commissions will issue polling tickets to voters between Nov. 1 and 7 ahead of the election day to simplify the procedure of voting.

Election campaign by political parties and independents at home have been in full swing since it started on Sept. 8 but will end on Nov. 6, two days before the election.

There are 35 million eligible voters in the country, according to chairman of the commission U Tin Aye.

The election commission is opening a total of 40,516 polling booths in the country , most of which lie in Yangon, Mandalay, Ayeyawaddy, Bago and Magway regions.

Of a total of 6,074 candidates including 310 independents running the upcoming general election, 5,764 are nominated from 91 political parties.

The commission designated 1,163 constituencies for the vote at four levels of the parliament across the country. Endit