HÀ NỘI – The nation’s voter turnout reached more than 70 per cent by 11am this morning, according to the National Election Council.

Several provinces recorded high turnout rates just four hours after the polling stations were opened. Hà Giang, Hà Tĩnh and Nghệ An had about 70 per cent of eligible voters having cast their ballots.

Lai Châu, Thừa Thiên-Huế and Thái Bình Provinces also had turnout rates of more than 50 per cent by 9am this morning. They recorded 60, 67.8, 66 and 55.5 per cent, respectively.

Further, Kiên Giang and Tây Ninh Provinces reported more than 48 per cent of eligible citizens had voted, while the number of voters having gone to polling stations waivered around 40 per cent in HCM City, Vĩnh Phúc, Hải Dương, Tiền Giang, Đắk Lắk and Tuyên Quang Provinces.

Bắc Ninh, Bắc Giang and Long An, however, recorded lower turnout rates, at 31, 20.6 and 26.6 per cent, respectively.

Several universities today opened polling stations for students to vote in.

Nguyễn Thế Hoàn, a student from the Natural Sciences University of Hà Nội National University, who won two gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad, said he was happy and proud to finally have the opportunity to vote.  

“I hope that there will be more policies to help young people grow, both in their studies and their careers,” Hoàn said.

Workers in industrial parks who could not leave for voting were also given the chance to cast ballots, as mobile polling boxes were set up in their dormitories.

Other mobile polling boxes were located in hospitals and clinics, where eligible voters and patients could cast their ballots.

Meanwhile, over 30,000 detainees nationwide cast ballots this morning to elect deputies to the 14th National Assembly and People’s Councils, according to the Ministry of Public Security’s General Department of Criminal Enforcement and Judicial Assistance. – VNS