Sulu provincial election supervisor Vidzfar Julie speaking to reporters in a chance interview at Comelec provincial office in Patikul town in Sulu on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023. (Photo by JOHN ERIC MENDOZA / INQUIRER.net)
PATIKUL, Sulu, Philippines — The low voter registration for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in Sulu is partly due to a typical situation here— unopposed candidates, according to the provincial election supervisor, Vidzfar Julie.
As of this writing, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Sulu has received only around 12,000 applications for registration from the 19 towns in the province, Julie said in a chance interview with reporters here on Sunday.
“As of now, the result of registration is still slow,” Julie said in Filipino.
“In Sulu, we know that all the municipal and provincial candidates are running unopposed. So that’s one reason why the turnout for registration is low. The local leaders and local politicians have no opponents during elections,” he added.
Julie said there are around 434,000 registered regular voters and 173,000 voters for the youth council polls.
The deadline for registration is on Jan. 31.
Over the weekend, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia, Commissioner Nelson Celis, and other top officials of the poll body visited Tawi-Tawi and Sulu to monitor the voter registration situation.