Expo 2020: How Does The Voting Process Work?

The decision to award a city the rights to host a World Expo is a rigorous process.

Candidate cities are entered into a final round of voting on Wednesday, following enquiries by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).

Around 168 member states will make their decision after assessing the feasibility of each city’s themes.

As Dubai, Izmir, Sao Paulo and Ekateringburg compete to host World Expo 2020, Gulf Business presents a round up of the last few hours leading to the announcement.

1. The final voting process for World Expo 2020 will be held at the 154th BIE General Assembly in Paris.

2. Before the voting process begins, each candidate city is required to give a final presentation lasting 20 minutes. The presentations are considered the final attempts by the candidate cities to woo BIE member states.

3. Dubai will be the first candidate city to present before the BIE members tomorrow. The presentations will begin at 10.30 am Paris time (1.30 pm UAE time).

4. Voting for the host country will begin at 2.00 pm Paris time (5.00 pm UAE time) in a closed room. Only official BIE delegates will be allowed entry into the room.

5. The voting process is expected to last three hours in total with each member country eligible to a vote.

6. There will be a maximum of three rounds of voting before BIE members decide upon a winner.

7. After each round of voting, the candidate city with the least amount of votes will be eliminated. However, if any candidate city earns two-thirds of the votes in the first or second round, then it shall be declared the winner.

8. BIE is expected to announce the name of the Expo 2020 winner at approximately 5.30 pm Paris time (8.30 pm UAE time).

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