(MENAFN- Gulf Times) With only two weeks left before meeting the 16,000 target new registrants for overseas absentee voting (OAV) before the October 31 deadline, the Philippine embassy here said it has already breached the 15,000 mark last Friday.
Ambassador Wilfredo Santos said the embassy in Doha was open over the weekend and gathered 484 new registrants and processed another 34 applications for reactivation and/or transfer.
"This number is the highest ever recorded for one day of registration in the history of this embassy, surpassing the 442 attained at Inihaw Republic Restaurant two weeks ago," the ambassador said.
"With this figure, the Philippine embassy in Doha has breached the 15,000 mark for new registrants, making us closer to our target of 16,000 new registrants," he stressed.
For the next two weeks until the end of October, Santos said the Philippine embassy in Doha will be open on Fridays to accommodate more OAV registrants.
In a circular issued earlier, the ambassador also said the embassy will also continue to deploy a mobile registration team at the Catholic Church of the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary every Friday from October 9.
"We therefore encourage our kababayans in Qatar to join us in our collective effort to reach and even surpass our targets in this overseas absentee voting registration drive," Santos said.
To meet its target of securing 16,000 new OAV registrants before the May 2016 elections, the Philippine embassy has launched the Overseas Voting iRehistro or online pre-registration for the Overseas Voter Registration Form (OVRF).
Earlier this month, the embassy has processed 13,234 registrants, or 82.71% of its 16,000 target in Qatar. This figure includes 7,294 new registrants starting May this year, the embassy said.
"This achievement was a result of an intensified campaign to register as many overseas voters as possible starting with the mobile registration drive held at the Catholic Church of the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary last September 18. A total of 208 new applications for registration/certification were processed on that day," Santos said.
He added: "On the same day, the mobile team then processed 44 new applications for registration/certification at the 5th anniversary celebration of the United Architects of the Philippines Qatar Chapter (UAPQaC) held at the Hilton Hotel.
According to Undersecretary Rafael E Seguis of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the Philippines is targeting to get 1mn new Overseas Filipino Workers to register in their respective embassies in time for the national polls next year.
In 2013, Filipinos in the Middle East and Africa (Mena) region accounted for 28.91% of the 10.5mn OFWs worldwide, said Seguis, who is also chairman of the Overseas Voting Secretariat.
Of the 3,051,431 OFWs in the Middle East, only 281,201 were registered overseas voters. In the 2013 elections, out of the 281,201 registered overseas voters only 9.03% or 32,382 cast their votes, Seguis said.
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