DAVAO CITY – Four days to go before the start of the overseas absentee voting, an OFW leader urged registered overseas absentee voters (OAV) to vote starting April 9.
“If an OFW was able to register as an absentee voter, then it follows that there is really intent to vote during the month-long OAV. The effort spent to be an OAV is wasted if an OAV won’t cast his vote,” said John Leonard Monterona, lead convener of the New OFW Forces Worldwide (OFW Forces) based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Republic Act No. 9189 or The Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003, defines absentee voting as the process by which qualified citizens of the Philippines abroad exercise their right to vote.
Monterona said he is expecting that OAVs from the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, and Tel Aviv-Israel “with a total OAV of 593,834 will go out and cast their votes.”
He said the total OAVs, land-based and seafarers combined, in other regions are 1,376,067 including: Asia-pacific with 344,857, North and Latin America with 275,689, and Europe with 161,687.
Monterona added that a higher OAV voter turnout ”is a real challenge, but possible”.
He cited the turnout of the 2013 midterm elections where the overseas voter turnout “was only 16.11%, way behind the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) target of 60% in major precincts around the world.”
Monterona said he is hoping for a repeat of the 2004 presidential elections, posting a 65% OAV turnout.
“A 65% or even higher OAV turnout is possible during the upcoming 2016 presidential elections. Just like the 2004 presidential elections, popular candidates are vying for the presidency,” he said.
The casting of vote abroad will end May 9, 2016 coinciding the election day in the Philippines. (davaotoday.com)
