Qatar- 14828 Filipinos cast vote for national elections

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Raynald C Rivera

DOHA: Two days before the month-long Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) for the Philippine national elections closes the Philippine Embassy has already recorded 14828 voters who cast their votes which is 400 percent increase from the last elections.

Turnout of the 2013 senatorial elections was 12 percent with only 2800 out of 23260 registered voters casting their votes. This elections however have seen meteoric rise from the number of new registrants to the actual number of votes cast.

“Today 760 voters cast their votes at the Embassy. We now have a total of 14828 voters who have exercised their right of suffrage in these elections. This number represents a turnout of 33.09 percent in Qatar which is second highest to Bahrain in the GCC and third highest in the Mena region after Bahrain and Israel” Philippine Ambassador Wilfredo C Santos told The Peninsula yesterday.

The embassy has already completed preparations for the counting of votes tomorrow. Yesterday Ambassador Santos along with other embassy officials met the representatives of the various political parties who will act as poll watchers to discuss the arrangements for the canvassing of election results.

A Special Board of Canvassers (SBOC) composed of Ambassador Santos as Chairman Vice Consul Kristine Bautista as Vice Chairman and Labour Attache David Des Dicang as Secretary was formed for the canvassing of election results which starts at noon tomorrow at the Releasing Section of the Embassy.

This is the first time that the counting of the results will follow the format under the new Automated Election System which is implemented in Qatar and a number of other countries. In the previous OAVs the results were counted manually which took a lot of time.

Copies of the election results will be forwarded to the Philippine Congress Commission on Elections the various political parties and the media.

They will also be posted at the Embassy after the conclusion of the canvassing of the returns for at least 48 hours after the elections.

Ambassador Santos said that he looks forward to an orderly canvassing process after the closing of the polls at 12 noon tomorrow.

“This year’s elections in Qatar was actively participated by our registered voters as shown in the high level of interest and turnout” Ambassador Santos said adding that he looks forward to an orderly canvassing of the election results in the same way that the Embassy was able to conduct the elections in a “very peaceful and orderly manner.”

The Ambassador also thanked the Filipinos in Qatar who have exercised their right of suffrage in these elections and urged those who have not yet cast their votes to go to the Embassy.

“Let us not wait until the last minute to vote for our respective candidates for President Vice President Senators and Party List representatives. Let us go out and vote now as we have only two days left starting tomorrow until May 9 to make our voice heard in these elections” he said. The embassy is open today from 8am to 5pm and tomorrow from 7am to noon to receive voters.

The Peninsula