COLOMBO, Sept. 18 -- The Sri Lankan Cabinet has approved steps to draft legislation enabling the country's expatriates to cast their votes in future elections, Cabinet Spokesman and Media Minister Nalinda Jayatissa announced earlier this week.

Currently, Sri Lanka's election laws only permit citizens residing in the country and registered on the electoral roll to vote. "According to the present law, there is no mechanism to facilitate voting for citizens living overseas, nor has any legislation been formulated in this regard," Minister Jayatissa told reporters at the weekly post-Cabinet briefing.

Highlighting global practices, he noted that several Asian countries, including India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines, already provide voting...