ABSENTEE voting for Filipinos overseas was off to a bad start, described as “chaotic and disorganized” on the first day on Sunday in Hong Kong and delayed in North America as the ballots and other election paraphernalia from Manila got stalled in transit in Alaska.
A record 1,697,215 registered overseas absentee voters began voting for national candidates on April 10 until Election Day on May 9. Overseas voters may only vote for president, vice president, 12 senators, and a party list group.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said the start of the month-long overseas absentee voting in five Philippine foreign posts was delayed due to difficulties in shipping election materials.
Overseas voting did not start as scheduled on April 10 in the Philippine embassies in Wellington, New Zealand; Islamabad, Pakistan, and Dili, Timor-Leste, as well as in the Philippine consulates general in Milan, Italy and in New York.
The start of overseas voting in the Philippine consulate general in Shanghai, China, was also suspended while the city is under a strict COVID-19 lockdown.
According to Comelec, half of the country’s 92 foreign posts would use an automated elections system.
A total 1,023,637 overseas absentee voters will vote in-person; 556,760 voters will mail their ballot, while 116,818 voters may choose either option.
Last week Commissioner in charge Marlon Casquejo said they were inclined to suspend overseas voting in Iraq, Algeria, Chad, Tunisia, Libya, Afghanistan and Ukraine, which have a combined 127 registered voters.
Filipinos in Hong Kong complained that the Philippine consular office could not accommodate the thousands who trooped to the Bayanihan Center at Victoria Road, Kennedy Town, to cast their vote.
There are some 93,000 overseas Filipino workers who are registered voters in Hong Kong.
Overseas Filipino voters in North America have also expressed fear of possible disenfranchisement among their group, blaming the apparent unpreparedness of Comelec and Philippine embassies and consulates and their failure to properly disseminate information on the electoral process.
There are 39,048 individuals in the certified list of registered overseas voters covering the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. (©Philippine Daily Inquirer 2022/Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Jeannette I. Andrade, Tina G. Santos)
