Over 7,300 Filipinos cast overseas absentee ballot

Manama : More than 7,300 Filipinos visited their embassy in the past 30 days to cast their vote in the Philippines national presidential and vice presidential election.

According to Philippines Ambassador Alfonso A. Ver, around 7,300 Filipinos visited the embassy as part of the Philippine Overseas Absentee Voting, which commenced on April 9. However, he explained that the turnout was much lower than expected, noting that there are 18,000 registered Filipino voters in Bahrain. The voting in Bahrain closed yesterday just as the Philippines concluded its national election. 

“We were expecting at least 50 to 60 per cent of the registered voters to be part of this, but we had only had around 40pc turnout. The turnout was evenly distributed during the 30 days, an average of 200 voters came every day. The only variation is that, as expected, more people turned up during the weekends. The Embassy was open to voters on all seven days of the week in the past 30 days,” he told DT News.

Five contestants, Rodrigo Duterte, Grace Poe, Mar Roxas, Jejomar Binay and Miriam Defensor-Santiago are running for president as President Benigno Aquino III’s term nears its end. Duterte, the mayor of the southern city of Davao, led pre-election polls and is tipped to become the next president. 

Some of the candidates had expressed concerns about discrepancies creeping in the overseas absentee voting. However, the Philippines Ambassador affirmed that everything went smoothly. “Everything was generally very good and very peaceful. It was the first time we had the automated system, which has improved the voting process by adding accuracy and efficiency,” he said.