2.8M register for youth council polls that may not happen as scheduled

MANILA, Philippines—Close to 2.8 million Filipinos registered as voters for youth council, or Sangguniang Kabataan, elections which President Rodrigo Duterte himself wanted postponed.

Commission on Elections data showed that a total of 2,799,644 signed up as voters during the month-long registration period that Comelec set.

Of these, at least 1.4 million were females while 1.3 million were males, the Comelec data showed. The highest number of registrants came from the Calabarzon region, 451,559.

The Comelec had set voter registration for the youth council elections from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30, 2019.

But Congress is poised to pass a measure to postpone both the youth council and village, or barangay, elections and move it to December 2022, way past the end of Duterte’s term.

The elections were originally scheduled for May 2020./TSB