The Electoral Commission of Pakistan is to make a decision this week on whether to introduce online voting for elections in 2018 after the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) said they have developed the necessary software.
A spokesperson for NADRA said the online voting system has been prepared to facilitate at least 8 million Pakistanis who live abroad.
The Electoral Commission will make a decision on March 31st.
A spokesperson for NADRA said:
“The expatriates will be issued a secret code, after which, they will be able to cast their votes through their registered mobile number using the given code.”
The Electoral Commission of Pakistan has been exploring electronic voting for overseas voters for a number of years. In 2015, tests with electronic voting machines in embassies abroad failed due to an internet connectivity issue.
There are 1.17 million British-Pakistanis in the UK, although it is unclear how many have Pakistani citizenship and would be eligible to vote.
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