All set for April 10 OAV in Hong Kong, Singapore

It’s all systems go for the first automated overseas absentee voting for Filipinos in Hong Kong and Singapore, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Monday. Comelec Commissioner Armand Velasco, who heads the committee on overseas absentee voting (COAV), told reporters that the poll agency has finished training all the special board of election inspectors (SBEI) who would oversee the casting of votes on April 10. Velasco added that the ballots in both Singapore and Hong Kong have already been printed. Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, who was tasked to visit the polling stations in Hongkong, said the Filipino community there is looking forward for a successful election. “Everybody’s working together. Everybody’s excited for the elections they even have their own voters’ education campaign going on," he said. A total of 50,000 sample ballots have been printed to be used by Comelec in its information drive regarding the forthcoming elections, Larrazabal said. The poll body has also brought election 10,000 fliers for the purpose. Velasco said they prioritized Hong Kong and Singapore in the overseas voting automation because of their proximity to the Philippines and their large voting population. There are 31,851 overseas absentee voters in Singapore, and 95,355 in Hong Kong. Velasco said the results of the elections in the two countries would be kept by the SBEI and would be transmitted to the Philippines on May 10. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, meanwhile, said about 50 percent of the election Board Election Inspectors (BEI) in the country have already passed the poll agency’s “stringent and intensive" training. Since February, the Department of Science and Technology has been training about 160,000 BEI who will oversee and conduct the voting process on May 10. Jimenez said he is expecting them to complete the program by end of March or early April. - Aie Balagtas See/KBK,GMANews.TV