The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Thursday, May 5 that voters in Cyprus can head to Posts or the embassy to get their ballots.
Commissioner Marlon Casquejo who heads the Office of Overseas Voting of the Comelec mentioned that this only applies to mail voting.
He said that voters can get their ballots there and sign a waiver and affidavit stating that they have not voted since they have not received their ballots.
Nagpalabas na kami ng advisory on post ? kapag hindi nila natanggap ang kanilang balota they can go to the post or the embassy, pwede naman silang kumuha ng balota dun, sign a waiver and affidavit na hindi sila nakaboto or hindi nila natanggap ang kanilang balota.
"So kung talagang hindi natanggap kasi iba ang address mo, you can go to the post office. Ina-allow natin ‘yun (If ever you didn't receive it because you have a different address, you can head to the post office. We allow that)," he said.
For postal voting, mailing packets containing the official ballots and voting instructions will be sent to voters through postal service or picked up by the voters personally from the "Post" or other voting areas.
Under Resolution No. 10751 promulgated on January 12, 2022 "Posts" are defined as short for Foreign Service Posts, which refer to Philippine embassies, consulates, foreign service establishments and other Philippine government agencies maintaining offices abroad like the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO) which have jurisdiction over the places where the overseas voters reside.
Meanwhile, voting remains suspended in Shanghai due to Covid-19 restrictions until such time that it will be allowed and a special election will be held. According to Casquejo, this may be conducted even after May 9 according to the law.
He stated that they may conduct the special elections in just one day since elections there are manual and add another Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEI) to cater to the 1,900 voters.