The Election Commission (EC) decided today (Saturday) to void any advance voting by Thais living in Sudan and to allow those who have returned safely to Thailand to cast ballots in their constituencies in the May 14th general election, according to EC chairman Itthiporn Boonpracong.
Advance voting was scheduled on April 28th and 29th at the Thai consular office in Khartoum, but the fighting in and around the Sudanese capital has been raging since April 15th, making it next to impossible for Thai voters to cast their ballots there.
94 will be able to cast their ballots in their constituencies on May 14th, according to the EC.
The first 78 Thais to be evacuated from Sudan arrived in Bangkok on Thursday night. Another 132 are due at about 10pm tonight.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the last five Thais, who lived outside Khartoum, have already boarded a ship at the Port of Sudan and are due to arrive in Jeddah at noon (Saudi time). Thai embassy officials will take care of them and arrange for a flight back to Thailand.
Itthiporn said that advance voting by Thais living abroad runs from April 24th until May 5th, and all the ballots cast must arrive in Thailand between May 9th and May 12th, so they can be distributed to the electoral constituencies to be counted with the those cast on election day.
He disclosed that ballots from the Czech Republic and Nepal arrived yesterday, while those from Los Angeles in the United States are expected to arrive today.
The Election Commission has rectified the problem of the late arrival of ballots from abroad, encountered during the last election, by using an Overseas Voting Monitoring System (OVMS) for every diplomatic pouch carrying election ballots, enabling officials can check their real-time whereabouts.
To make sure that the overseas ballots arrive by the deadline, Itthiporn said that Thai embassy officials in 13 countries will hand-carry the pouches back to Thailand.
He reminded those who have registered to vote in advance to cast their ballots at 447 designated polling stations in 77 provinces, as they cannot vote on May 14th.
Those who fail to vote on May 7th must notify election officials in the seven days following election day of the reason why they could not vote in advance on May 7th, so they will not lose voting rights.
