Noynoy, Roxas lead in OAV votes, DFA says

Liberal Party presidential bet Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and running-mate Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas II dominated the votes cast by Filipinos abroad through the month-long overseas absentee voting (OAV), data from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) showed. Aquino, who continues to lead in various partial, unofficial tallies based on election returns from the Philippines, won by landslide in votes cast through the OAV with 45,734 votes, the DFA said. Bangon Pilipinas standard-bearer Bro. Eddie Villanueva, who consistently places fifth in various unofficial election results based on votes cast in the Philippines, was in distant second with 11, 147 votes. Data from various boards of election inspectors and Philippine embassies also showed Aquino winning by a wide margin against his rivals in most countries where OAV was held.

In Hong Kong, one of the territories where automated absentee voting was held, Aquino garnered 19,606 votes, way ahead of Nacionalista Party’s bet Senator Manuel Villar Jr. who got 8,327 votes. In the United Arab Emirates, Aquino likewise won by landslide with 4,295 votes, while administration party bet Gilberto Teodoro Jr. trailed with 924 votes. Aquino also got the most votes in the cities of Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco in the United States, according to Philippine consulates in these areas. Mar, too Roxas, who was second only to Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino's (PMP) vice-presidential bet Makati mayor Jejomar Binay based on votes cast in the Philippines, also won by landslide in the OAV, according to the DFA. Roxas got a total of 39,360 votes from the OAV against Binay’s 9,213 votes. He also won the most votes in American cities where OAV was held, leading by more than a thousand votes against Bagumbayan party’s Bayani Fernando, who consistently ranked second. In the United Arab Emirates, Roxas got 4,515 votes, way ahead of rivals Binay and Fernando, who got 1,082 votes and 714 votes, respectively. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) earlier said that 24 percent of the 587,840 registered Filipino voters abroad cast their votes during the OAV. - KBK, GMANews.TV