Voter turnout at 5% a week after start of OAV

A week after the overseas absentee (OAV) voting started, only over 29,000 or almost 5 percent of the total number of overseas Filipino voters overseas have cast their votes. Of the 589,830 Filipino voters abroad who have registered for this year’s elections, only 29,383 have voted as of noon on Saturday in the 93 Philippine Embassies and Consulates General across the world, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The department nevertheless described the turnout as “good." In a statement posted on its Web site, the DFA said Philippine diplomatic posts that recorded the highest turnout are those in Hong Kong (5,389), Riyadh (2,639), Jeddah (1,464), Singapore (1,256) and Los Angeles (1,288). Other diplomatic posts with high turnout of voters are those in New York (1,085), San Francisco (1,074), London (965), Washington D.C. (723) and Kuwait (694). In terms of region, the Asia-Pacific has the highest number of ballots cast at 10,505, followed by the Middle East and Africa with 8,708, the Americas with 6,312 and Europe with 3,858. "The first week of OAV went well and without major hitches," DFA Undersecretary Rafael E. Seguis, who also heads the OAV Secretariat office, said. On second day of the OAV in Hong Kong, two of the counting machines malfunctioned and rejected ballots, stalling for as long as two hours the recording of votes cast. "We are encouraging registered overseas absentee voters to exercise their hard-earned right of suffrage, so they can be involved in deciding who will compose our next set of national leaders come July. We also urge them to vote now, in order to avoid last minute queues at the polling places," Seguis said. He added that the OAVS Support Center at the DFA is open 24 hours daily for the duration of the national elections. The Center provides support to the Embassies and Consulates General by responding to queries, accepting reports, and providing election-related information. Overseas voters will have the opportunity to elect the next president, the vice president, 12 senators and one party-list representative for a month, or until May 10, election day in the country. There are three modes of voting used in the conduct of the OAV - automated counting using Precinct Count Optical Scan machines in Hong Kong and Singapore, and personal voting and postal voting in other Embassies and Consulates General. – KBK, GMANews.TV