New voters will be ‘game changers’ in 2022 polls – Comelec exec

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — Newly registered voters will be the “game changers” in the May 9 polls, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Garcia said four days before this year’s elections.

“New voters will be the game changers,” Garcia said during Thursday’s Pandesal Forum.

According to the Comelec official, there are 7 million new voters in the 2022 elections.

“So doon pa lang, makaboto lang lahat sila ay para sa akin malaking bagay na [So if all of them vote, it will be a big deal],” he went on.

There are a total of 67.4 million Filipino voters, over 84,000 of whom are local absentee voters and 1.679 million others are overseas voters, Garcia noted.

Garcia described this year’s polls as “historic,” considering the number of candidates vying for different positions.

“It’s the first time we have 10 candidates for president,” he said.

“We have nine candidates for vice president, try to imagine how many candidates we have for senator,” he added.

He also pointed out that there are more or less 170 party-lists for the 2022 elections, which he said is an “all-time high” number.

Election day is on May 9. Voting is from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.