Before opening the ballot boxes, each election station must record and seal any unused ballots. The entire process is observed by two voters per station and various journalists from across the country. Once the counting is completed, the results are put down on paper.
Preliminary reports from the National Election Council show that as of 5 p.m. today, more than 63.3 million voters participated in the general election nationwide, equivalent to the voter turnout of 95.84 percent. About 32,000 local election stations had 100 percent voter turnout.
Earlier today, more than 69.2 million voters across Vietnam were expected to cast their votes to elect 500 members of the new National Assembly, 3,918 provincial councilors, 24,993 district councilors and 294,055 commune councilors for the 2016-2021 tenure.
The election has been dubbed by the Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong as the country’s biggest in history.
In Vietnam, people aged 18 or over have the right to vote while the minimum age to run for office is 21.