Citizens abroad vote in Majlis elections

19/10/2019

Voting for citizens in Oman will take place on October 27

MUSCAT: Omani citizens living abroad and members of the election committees cast their ballot for the ninth term of Majlis Ash’shura elections via the remote voting application on smartphones. The voting started on 8 am and ended on 8 pm on Saturday.

The Ministry of Interior said that the voting through the application constitutes a technological transformation in the Majlis Ash’shura elections as the application enables Omani voters residing anywhere in the world to participate in the elections, whereas in the previous elections the voting was conducted at designated election centres at the Sultanate’s embassies in the GCC countries.

Earlier, the ministry launched the application on electronic platforms. On Saturday, the application was made available for use by eligible voters provided that they hold valid ID cards and possess a SIM card issued by one of the telecom companies operating in the Sultanate and provided with the international roaming service and the public key infrastructure (PKI). The SIM card should also be activated via the Oman PKI portal.

The ministry published the steps that should be followed by voters in the remote voting process on the local media as well as the Majlis Ash’shura elections accounts on the social networking sites.

Meanwhile, the main committee of the ninth Majlis Ash’shura elections held a meeting under the chairmanship of Khalid bin Hilal al Busaidy, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Interior and committee chairman.

The committee followed up on the voting process as Omani citizens living abroad and members of the election committees cast their ballot via the remote voting application.