DOHA: The Philippine embassy is close to meeting its target new registrants for Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) registration in preparation for the presidential elections in May next year, says Ambassador Wilfredo C Santos.
“We have registered almost 11,000 new voters at the end of August. We are now No. 18 around the world and No. 6 in the Middle East and the Gulf in terms of the number of new registrants,” Santos told the media yesterday.
“We are a very active community when it comes to important national events like OAV, so I’m very happy about that.”
Prior to the start of registration last year, Commission on Elections (Comelec) of the Philippines announced a target of 300,000 new voters in the Middle East, 16,000 of whom are overseas Filipinos in Qatar.
“We were given the target of 16,000 new registrants. That is a very ambitious target but we’re nearing that. Since I arrived on April 29, we have averaged more than 1,000 per month and we are catching up to that number,” Santos said, expressing optimism over reaching the target when registration closes on October 31.
Key to the increase in the number of new voters are mobile OAV registrations to reach more Filipinos in Qatar.
OAV registration is being held at Filipino Community Family Day at InterContinental The City for two days.
On Friday next week, another mobile registration will be held at Inihaw Republik in Al Hilal.
Some Filipino organisations have pledged to provide at least 50 registrants each during mobile registrations.
“We want to maximise our presence there. Before we go upon inviting organisations, we tell them to get as many people as possible because the government is spending resources for these outreach missions,” he explained.
Santos urged compatriots to register and vote in the elections.
“If you want to make a difference, you want to make an impact on the future of our country, you want to chart the future of our country through the selection of leaders, I encourage you to register and vote,” he said.
Meeting the target of 16,000 new voters would make a big difference when added to the 23,000 voters in the last elections.
Santos said more important would be turnout during the national elections.
“Our goal is a large turnout because it will show how involved our overseas Filipino community is in national elections,” he said.
The Midterm Elections of 2013 in Qatar registered a low turnout of 2,800 out of 23,000 registered voters.
The Peninsula
