Envoy eyes 7,000 Pinoy absentee voters in N Marianas

SUSUPE, Saipan – Some 7,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) are expected to qualify to register this year as absentee voters for the 2010 presidential elections. Philippine Consul General in the CNMI Wilfredo DL. Maximo said the latest estimate of registrants is based on the number of OFWs here who cast their votes in the 2004 presidential and 2007 midterm elections. The registration or certification of overseas absentee voters for the 2010 national polls has been reset for Feb. 1, 2009 ending on Aug. 31 this year. The 2010 national elections would be the third time that Filipinos abroad will participate in elections in the Philippines while they are away from home. “Hopefully we’ll have a respectable registration figure in 2009…We are hopeful that those who voted in the two previous elections who are still here will register to vote in the 2010 elections," Maximo told GMANews.TV. Of the over 8,000 OFWs in the CNMI who registered to vote in 2003 for the 2004 presidential elections, a little over 5,000 cast their votes. During the 2006 registration for the 2007 midterm polls, some 3,000 OFWs in the CNMI registered. Of this number, about 2,000 cast their votes. “The novelty of being able to vote overseas for the first time in 2004 and because it’s a presidential election might have been the main reasons why we had such a large turnout in the 2004 elections. During the voter registration in 2003, we registered over 8,000 in just two months. But in the 2006 registration which lasted for 11 months, we only had some 3,000; and that maybe because it’s only a midterm election," Maximo said. The names of those who registered in 2003 and 2006 but did not vote in the 2004 or 2007 elections will be purged from the list of certified absentee voters. “All qualified Filipino voters are urged to register as overseas voters or to update their records (if they have previously voted in the Philippines) to enable them to vote during the 2010 Philippine presidential elections," the Philippine Consulate General in the CNMI said in a separate statement. The CNMI is home to some 10,000 OFWs and Filipino-Americans, most of them in the capital island of Saipan which is only about three hours away from Manila. - GMANews.TV