The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is hoping that the Sept. 17 Maguindanao plebiscite will also have a high voter turnout.
"We've already conducted two plebiscites and we were successful. The last one was in Calaca where we had more than 56 percent voter turnout," Comelec Commissioner Aimee Ferolino said in a press briefing Thursday, Sept. 15.
"We hope, if not higher, we will have the same voter turnout in the plebiscite in Maguindanao because we would like as many voters as we can to participate in this activity," added the designated Commissioner-in-Charge for Plebiscites.
Comelec - Deputy Executive Director for Operations Teopisto Elnas also expressed the same wish.
"Last year, when we conducted the Palawan plebiscite we had 62.5 percent voter turnout. In Calaca, we had 56 percent voter turnout. Hopefully, if the weather is good like what happened in Calaca, we expect thosr who will vote and participate in the plebiscite will be higher than 56 percent," he said.
Based on Comelec data, a total of 818,790 registered voters are set to vote in the plebiscite to be held in 5,390 polling precincts located in 501 voting centers.
The voters will come from a total of 545 barangays in 36 municipalities in Maguindanao.
The Comelec said 5,718 members and chairpersons of the 1,906 Plebiscite Committees will be manning the poll exercise.
Voting is from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Maguindanao plebiscite will determine whether or not the province will be divided into two Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur.