More than 1.3M sign up for 2016 polls

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said more than 1.3 million Filipinos overseas have registered for the 2016 elections, topped by Filipinos in the Middle East with more than 500,000 registrants for the overseas absentee voting (OAV).

“Since overseas Filipinos are considered to be their family’s bread winners, it is not a stretch to surmise that each overseas Filipino can influence the vote of at least three family members. Thus, the 1.3 million active registered overseas voters are roughly equivalent to 5.2 million votes. This is a definite game changer for Philippine politics,” Office of Civilian Security and Consular Concerns Undersecretary Rafael E. Seguis said. Seguis is also chairman of DFA-Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA-OVS).

Majority of the overseas registered voters are in the Middle East and Africa with 550,000 active registered overseas voters, followed by about 250,000 in the Americas; about 150,000 in Europe; and 320,000 in Asia and the Pacific, while seafarers registered as overseas voters number about 30,000.

DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario said the preparations by the DFA and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) “led to a successful start for the registration process.”

According to the DFA, all Filipino citizens who expect to be abroad during the 30-day (April 9 to May 9, 2016) overseas voting period for the 2016 Presidential Elections and who are at least 18 years old on May 9, 2016, and not otherwise disqualified by law may personally register as an overseas voter at any Philippine Foreign Service Post (FSP), including the three Manila Economic and Cultural Offices (MECO), 15 OVRCs in the Philippines and at other Comelec approved field/mobile registration centers.

Overseas Filipinos in the Asia Pacific (except China and Taiwan), Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa regions may also visit the site irehistro.comelec.gov.ph/ov to access the iREHISTRO On-line system and register as an overseas voter.

The DFA extended the reactivation of Filipino overseas voters’ registration to December 9, 2015.