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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Bayan Muna seeks probe on 'chaotic and disorganized' OFW absentee voting

Bayan Muna seeks probe on 'chaotic and disorganized' OFW absentee voting

Published Apr 19, 2022 05:15 pm

Bayan Muna Party-list is seeking a probe into the recently-begun absentee voting process for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) through the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms.

An overseas Filipino in Bangladesh is among the early nationals to cast votes for the May 2022 national elections during the first day of overseas absentee voting Sunday, April 10. (Photo courtesy of the Philippine Embassy in Bangladesh Facebook Page)

“The April 10, 2022 start of overseas voting for the 2022 national elections was marred with confusion and met with concerns by overseas Filipino workers as its implementation became disorganized. In Hong Kong, for instance, complaints were raised early as thousands of voters were not accommodated on the first day of overseas voting. Other concerns raised are the lack of vote-counting machines (VCM) as only five (5) were provided by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to the consular office instead of the usual ten (10) in the previous elections,” read House Resolution (HR) 2554, dated April 12.

Aside from Hong Kong, the resolution cited reports of problems from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Australia, China, the United States (US), France, Italy, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Timor Leste.

These reports include insufficient voting facilities, insufficient VCMs, lack of voting and election paraphernalia including indelible ink, unsent ballots, inconvenient ballot submission procedure, complaints by poll watchers of voters wearing UniTeam campaign clothing at the embassy during voting; and faulty and/or allegedly even pre-shaded ballots.

The Comelec has acknowledged reports of spoiled ballots, such as this incident in Singapore.

“As representatives of the people, we must ensure that all registered Filipinos can freely exercise their right to suffrage, especially overseas voters. Congress must guard against any potential massive disenfranchisement of overseas voters due to the lack of proper organizing by election officials,” read the statement signed by Bayan Muna Reps. Carlos Zarate, Eufemia Cullamat, and Ferdinand gaite.

Absentee voting for OFWs began on April 10. They represent around 2.8 percent of all Filipino voters at about 1.7 million out of the 65,745,529 voters registered for the May 9, 2022 polls, according to the Comelec.

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41922 2022 ELECTION Vote Comelec OFW Bayan Muna
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