A year after the registration of overseas
Filipinos resumed for the May 2013 elections, the Commission on
Elections and the Department of Foreign Affairs nearly doubled the
number of registered overseas Filipino voters, to about 915,000.
This is, however, still below the target of 1 million voters, a very
low figure considering the number of qualified Filipinos overseas
estimated to be more than 9 million. For the 2010 elections, only
590,000 overseas Filipinos registered, while only 152,000 of this
number actually voted.
According to Comelec Chairman Sixto Brilliantes, Jr., the DFA
requested for a month-long extension of OAV registration, but the
Comelec en banc decided to stick to the original deadline of October
31.
(Various news sources) |
