Low turnout of OFWs registering for 2013 polls - Comelec

MANILA, Philippines - There has been a low turnout of overseas Filipinos registering for the 2013 midterm elections, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported.

Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco said that as of Jan. 18, a total of 16,070 Filipinos have registered in various Philippine posts across the world.

This figure is far below the one million target for overseas absentee voting (OAV) for 2013.

Velasco, however, said Comelec is still confident that it could meet the target before the voter’s registration ends on Oct. 31, 2012.

“We still have nine months left so we are confident that we can get them to register,” he said.

Velasco added the Comelec Committee on Absentee Voting would come up with incentives for qualified Filipinos abroad to register under the OAV.

These incentives may be in the form of raffle prizes like gift certificates at Duty Free shops or trips to any domestic tourist destinations in the Philippines.

Comelec records showed that Los Angeles posted the highest number of registrants with 1,760; followed by Riyadh (915); Tel Aviv (866); Milan (847); London (729); Dubai (725); Hong Kong (637); San Francisco (627); Macau (613) and Singapore (517).

In the May 2010 elections, there were a total of 589,830 overseas Filipinos who registered as absentee voters but only 153,323 of them managed to vote.