High oversea voter turn out expected

About 80,000 Thais living overseas had already registered to vote. The turnout in 16 of 170 stations in 65 countries around the globe showed an average of 70 per cent, said the ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat.

He said the roll up at some stations even reached 100 per cent. Overseas vote casting began on December 3 and finish on Sunday.

Embassies and consulate offices around the world will process the ballots and forward them to Bangkok before December 20 for counting along with the local votes at the end of polling on December 23, Tharit said.

The register and turnout were far higher than the previous election, when only 20,000 people registered with only a 30 per cent vote turnout, Tharit said.

Thai citizens in Penang, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Chile, Senegal, East Timor, Pakistan, Beijing, Shanghai and Xian, have already caste their ballots.

The Nation