Philippine polls: More than 4000 cast vote in Qatar in the first week

Date

4/15/2016 9:55:17 PM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)

By Raynald C Rivera

DOHA: More than 4000 Filipinos in Qatar have cast votes in the first week of month-long overseas absentee voting (OAV) for Philippine national elections.

With 24 more days to go for OAV to end the number of voters has surpassed the turnout in the 2013 elections.

“After one week over 4000 voters have cast votes. They represent more than 9 percent of the registered voters. We have exceeded the turnout in 2013 elections” Philippine Ambassador Wilfredo C Santos told The Peninsula yesterday. “We are thankful and pleased with the turnout because it underscores the strong interest of overseas Filipinos in these very important elections.”

The last OAV saw very low turnout in many countries. In Qatar 2800 out of 23260 registered voters took part in the 2013 elections. There are over 44000 registered voters in Qatar for this year’s elections which are expected to witness the highest turnout since OAV began in 2004.

Yesterday saw the highest number of voters during the week with over 1100 arriving at the embassy prompting it to extend the process by two more hours to accommodate them including some from far-off places.

“Our challenge is to manage the flow of people because of the number. We expect the number to increase further especially during weekends. We expect around 36 percent turnout at the end of the elections” said Santos. Compared to other countries where OAV is being held Filipino voters in Qatar are more engaged and their number is encouraging. On the third day of the elections Doha ranked fifth among 82 Philippine posts overseas in terms of voter turnout. “Filipinos have strong interest in the elections and come out in great numbers to perform their civic duty. This is a positive development as overseas Filipinos show great interest in choosing the next leaders to take the reins of the country” added Santos.

Social media has played a major role in making overseas Filipinos more involved in the elections. “I think social media is a catalyst for this positive development providing

The Peninsula

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