Overseas absentee votes may swing poll results in VP race – Comelec

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez (right) demonstrates how the vote counting machine works.  INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA — The camp of Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo should not yet feel complacent even as she continued to maintain her lead over Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos in the tight vice presidential race.

According to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), votes coming from oversas Filipino voters could decide who will be the country’s next vice president.

Comelec data showed that a total of 429,802 out of the 1.3 million Filipino voters overseas have participated in the month-long Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV).

“Oo, definitely swing votes (OAV) na ngayon ‘yan.  Considering na ang pinagbabasehan nila lahat ay partial unofficial results, I don’t think it’s safe for anyone to celebrate at this point, and conversely hindi naman din siguro dapat na may malungkot na ngayon (Yes, definitely the OAV are swing votes.  Considering that the numbers being tallied now are partial and unofficial results, I don’t think it’s safe for anyone to celebrate at this point, and conversely, nobody should be sad ,” said Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez.

“That (OAV votes) could possibly have a big effect. Maaring bumaligtad entirely in the sense na ma-overcome yong lead at madagdagan pa. Maari din naman madagdagan pa ang karamihan ng boto sa kahit sinong kandidato (It is possible that the tallies are reversed in the sense that the lead is overcome and the new leader even gains more votes.  It could be that more votes will be added to the tallies of some candidates),” he added.

But apart from the OAV votes, Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said there were still areas in the country that had not transmitted votes by Wednesday, to the Comelec en banc now sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC).

Guanzon also reported that in Maguindanao for instance, several voting precincts have not yet transmitted results due to several reasons.

“There’s still about 250,000 votes from overseas that have yet to be canvassed. I heard that the trend abroad is something like favoring some candidates,” Guanzon said.

“It’s a tight race and so I can understand why Senator  Marcos is really on his toes,” she added.  SFM