Overseas voting for the April 15 general elections kicked off on Wednesday.

According to the National Election Commission(NEC), polling at the country's diplomatic missions around the world will be held between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. from April 1 to 6.

There are about 172-thousand eligible overseas voters, but only 53 percent will be able to vote this year as the NEC suspended election operations in about 40 countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Affected diplomatic missions include consulate generals in China's Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, New York, Los Angeles and Frankfurt, as well as embassies in Britain, France and Italy.

Although the voting process has begun, the NEC plans to suspend the process if movement bans or other restrictions in the host countries make voting impossible.