The CEC today referred the early voting system for security forces to the Cabinet for approval.
The system assigns January 23, 2006 as the early voting date for security forces. Each district office shall open a number of polling centers for the security forces. Each polling center shall contain a number of polling stations, which will be provided with a list of the names of a minimum of 50 persons who will be early voting.
The Ministry of Interior shall, within a maximum period of six weeks from the official polling day, submit lists to the CEC of all security force personnel who are early voting. Persons who are not included in the lists shall be governed by the same regulations that govern voters on the official polling day.
Early voting centers and stations shall be governed by the same regulations and procedures that have been established by the CEC for polling centers and stations on polling day. Early voting ballots shall be counted in conjunction with ballots that are collected on the official polling day.
The CEC’s Chief Electoral Officer declared that "if the Ministry of Interior does not submit security force lists according to CEC specifications, in terms of providing the CEC with voters’ personal details according to the dates assigned in the system, the CEC will be unable to conduct early voting for the security forces."
The legislative council ratified the amendment of Article (73) of the elections law to enable security forces to cast their votes 48 hours prior to the official polling day.