MANILA: Filipino voters in 26 countries have snubbed this year’s mid-term elections by not voting during the month-long Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV), the Commission on Elections (Comelec), sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), disclosed.
During the canvassing, Comelec Commissioner Elias Yusoph had announced “there were no voters” in 26 countries. OAV covers the senatorial race and the party-list system.
There were 710 registered voters in 26 countries covered by postal voting. They are: Columbia (six voters), Netherlands (5), Suriname (5), Venezuela (350), Costa Rica (4), El Salvador (4), Honduras (14), Dominican Republic (22), Panama (7), Ecuador (5), Peru (8), Bulgaria (2), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2), Estonia (1), Latvia (1), Burundi (1), Congo (128), Madagascar (223), Malawi (2), Mauritius (6), Rwanda (1), Somalia (1), Eritrea (28), Djibouti (43), Zambia (241), and Macedonia (10).
According to lawyer Jane Valeza, Vice Chairman of the Comelec-Committee on OAV (COAV), the geographical location of these countries was the primary reason why voters there were not able to cast their votes.
Valeza said there are no Philippine embassy or consular offices in these countries and they are mostly “thousands of miles” away from the Philippine posts where they are supposed to send their postal ballots. THE PHILIPPINE STAR
