By Daisy C L Mandap
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| Only a few voters were around when polls closed at 5pm Sunday |
Overseas voting for Filipinos abroad ends today, May
9, on the same day that up to 67 million people will also cast their ballots
across the Philippines.
Today being a statutory holiday, the Consulate which is
administering the vote, expects that enough voters will turn up at the Bayanihan
Centre to boost the overall turnout to 60,000.
That would amount to nearly 65% of the total registered voter tally of 93,625 – a staggering figure, given the strict anti-pandemic restrictions currently in place in Hong Kong.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
In 2016, when the last presidential election was held, the turnout reached about 45,000, or 49% of the more than 93,000 registered voters.
The last Sunday of voting yielded an additional 3,300
votes, pushing the tally so far to about 58,500. On Saturday, 1,600 people cast
their votes.
Voting has been particularly brisk since Thursday,
when dozens of Iglesia ni Cristo followers began casting their ballots after
their church leaders in the Philippines released the names of candidates they
are supporting.
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The church known to encourage its members to vote as a
bloc, has been instrumental in keeping the voting momentum going in the past
few days.
A member said more voters from their church should
turn up today, this being a statutory holiday when foreign domestic workers are
entitled to take the day off.
Among those who cast their votes on Sunday was Liezel Lao, who was earlier told her name was not in the certified list of voters after she had lined up for hours on Apr 10, the first day of overseas voting.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Luckily
she had kept the receipt given her after she registered in August last year, and applied to have her name included.
At about noon yesterday, Lao happily shared a photo of
her outside the Bayanihan Centre, saying she had just voted.
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| Lao managed to cast her vote on her last day-off in the week |
According to Consul Bob Quintin who is deputized by the Commission on Elections to oversee the vote in Hong Kong, only a few people had the same problem as Lao this year. However, it took Comelec some time to authorize them to allow the person involved to vote.
He said the most number of complaints came from those who have
been delisted for failing to vote in two consecutive elections but are still
insisting on being allowed to vote.
On the flipside are former FDWs here who won’t be able
to vote today because they did not ask for their registration to be transferred
back to their hometown.
Consul Quintin said once delisted, the voter will have
to register again during the period indicated. Those who have moved back to the
Philippines, on the other hand, should apply to get their registration transferred
to near their place of residence so they can resume voting there.
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| Consul Quintin and some volunteers get ready for the hours-long canvassing |
As in past elections, poll watchers from the different
political parties will gather at Bayanihan to observe the canvassing of votes,
and leave only until all the votes have been tallied, a process that ordinarily
lasts until the early hours of the next morning.
