Supporters of America's Democratic Party living in Hong Kong will be able to help choose their presidential candidate through a new global primary election.
Democrats Abroad, the party's overseas wing, has switched from a worldwide caucus system to a single primary ballot for the presidential campaign, which kicked off in the state of Iowa on Thursday, with Barack Obama winning the Democrat caucus and Mike Huckabee the Republican one.
The group's Hong Kong branch will hold the ballot to choose between Hillary Clinton, Senator Obama or John Edwards at the Lan Kwai Fong watering-hole The Dublin Jack, the haunt that hosts its monthly meeting, and the Flying Pan in Wan Chai, a 24-hour cafe.
The ballots at the Irish pub, on February 5 and 12, will be held from 6pm to 9pm, while the Flying Pan vote will be held from 4pm to 6pm on February 10.
The group - which operates in about 80 countries and will elect 22 delegates to the party's national convention in August in Denver, Colorado - has been holding caucuses for expatriate members, in which supporters of different presidential candidates debate and bargain over votes, since 1992.
There is no parallel system for Republican Party expats, but Republicans Abroad, the support group for members outside the US, helps its members to register in their home states as absentee voters.