8.—(1) At any time after the notice of contested election is published in the Gazette but before voting begins at any overseas polling station, the Returning Officer shall deliver to the Assistant Returning Officer assigned to the overseas polling station sufficient quantities of election materials and the necessary instructions for the overseas election officers appointed to that overseas polling station to perform their duties under the Act and these Regulations.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), the Returning Officer shall deliver to the Assistant Returning Officer assigned to an overseas polling station —
(a)
enough ballot papers for the number of overseas electors allotted to vote at that overseas polling station;
(b)
the necessary materials for electors to mark their votes on the ballot papers;
(c)
all certified registers of electors;
(d)
a list (certified by the Registration Officer as to its correctness) showing the overseas electors allotted to vote at that overseas polling station, which shall be extracted from the certified registers of electors for all electoral divisions in respect of which a notice of contested election is published;
(e)
one or more ballot boxes;
(f)
the form of the oaths or declarations to be administered to electors;
(g)
the necessary envelopes, forms and other supplies that may be authorised or provided by the Returning Officer in connection with the conduct of a poll at that overseas polling station; and
(h)
all names and particulars of persons received by the Returning Officer under regulation 15(2) as the persons appointed to act as polling agents at that overseas polling station.
(3) Until the opening of the poll at his overseas polling station, the Assistant Returning Officer in charge of the overseas polling station shall be responsible for all election materials in his possession and must take every precaution for the safekeeping of those materials and to prevent any person from having unlawful access to them.
Ballot papers
9.—(1) The votes at a poll held at any overseas polling station shall not be given using a DRE voting system but shall be given by ballot consisting of a ballot paper in the same form as that prescribed in the Act.
(2) Every such ballot paper shall —
(a)
contain the names of candidates in English, arranged in the same manner as prescribed in section 40(2) or (3), as the case may be, of the Act;
(aa)
comply with section 40A of the Act;
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(ab)
clearly demarcate the area within which a voter must mark his vote for a candidate or a group of candidates;
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(b)
be numbered on its back, with the same serial number printed on the face of its counterfoil; and
(c)
be capable of being folded.
(3) The official mark for the authentication of ballot papers to be used at a poll in an overseas polling station shall be such mark as the Returning Officer may approve under the Act for ballot papers to be used at an overseas poll at the same election.
Voting compartments
10.—(1) Each overseas polling station shall contain one or more polling places with voting compartments arranged and such other reasonable facilities so that each elector may mark his ballot paper screened from observation and without interference or interruption.
(2) Each voting compartment shall have in it a suitable black lead pencil or a pen using indelible ink for the use of electors in marking their ballot papers.
Directions to voters
11.—(1) Before the poll opens at an overseas polling station in an election, the presiding officer appointed under regulation 5 for the overseas polling station must cause a notice giving directions for the guidance of voters in voting to be displayed on or at a conspicuous place outside the overseas polling station.
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(2) The notice giving directions for the guidance of voters in voting shall be in all 4 official languages substantially in the form set out in the Schedule.
Other facilities for overseas polling stations
12.—(1) Before the poll opens at an overseas polling station in an election, the presiding officer appointed under regulation 5 for the overseas polling station must cause a notice about the poll to be displayed on or at a conspicuous place outside the overseas polling station.
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(1A) The notice mentioned in paragraph (1) must contain the following information for each candidate at the election:
(a)
the name of the candidate in the official languages;
(b)
the symbol allotted to the candidate, or the group of candidates comprising the candidate, under section 34 or 34A of the Act, as the case may be;
(c)
the name of the political party (if any) for which the candidate is standing at the election, in the official languages;
(d)
where the photograph of the candidate is included on the ballot papers for the election under section 40A(1) of the Act, that photograph;
(e)
where the photograph of the candidate is not included on the ballot papers for the election (by reason of non-compliance with section 40A(1) of the Act), a note that there is no photograph for the candidate.
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(1B) The names of the candidates at the election must be arranged on the notice in the same order as they are arranged on the ballot papers for the election under regulation 9(2)(a).
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(2) Every ballot box to be used at a poll at an overseas polling station shall be so constructed that the ballot papers can be introduced into the box after it has been sealed or locked but cannot be withdrawn from the box unless the seal or lock is broken.
(3) The Assistant Returning Officer assigned to the overseas polling station shall determine, or may authorise any presiding officer at that overseas polling station to determine, in what manner the facilities for the electors allotted to that overseas polling station to enable them to mark their votes shall be distributed among the overseas electors entitled to vote at that overseas polling station.