Comelec: 23% of 1.6 million voters abroad have cast their ballots as of May 5

Comelec logo and VCM, INQUIRER GRAPHICS

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday reported that 23 percent of registered voters overseas have so far cast their ballot for this year’s polls.

Poll body commissioner Marlon Cascuejo said that of the 1,697,130 registered overseas voters, some 385,437 (23 percent) have already practiced their right of suffrage as of May 5.

Of the 385,437 who already voted, 148,127 were from the Middle East and Africa; 139,041 from Asia-Pacific; 56,550 from North and South America; and 41,719 in Europe, according to Cascuejo.

The Comelec official said they are expecting a higher voter turnout this 2022 election compared to 2016.

“With this trend, we could probably surpass the [voter turnout] in 2016, which is 32 percent,” Cascuejo said, partly in Filipino. “We are already at 23 percent as we have yet to complete our data.”

The Comelec previously said they are expecting 580,212 overseas voters to participate in this year’s election.

Overseas voting started on April 10 and will end on May 9.

KGA