Filipino Expats Blog in Thailand

16 April 2010 – The first week of overseas absentee voting had a good turnout of voters, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said today.

Overseas absentee voting started last April 10 in electoral precincts located in 93 Philippine Embassies and Consulates General around the world.

As of noon today, 29,383 registered voters have cast their ballots during the first week of voting, according to the DFA Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat (DFA-OAVS).

The Embassies and Consulates General with the highest number of voters are the following: the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong (5,389), the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh (2,639), the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah (1,464), the Philippine Embassy in Singapore (1,256), the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles (1,288), the Philippine Consulate General in New York (1,085), Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco (1,074), the Philippine Embassy in London (965), the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. (723), and the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait (694).

In terms of region, the Asia-Pacific has the most number of voters with 10,505 ballots cast, followed by Middle East and Africa, with 8,708 votes, the Americas with 6,312 ballots, and Europe with 3,858 votes.

“The first week of OAV went well and without major hitches,” DFA Undersecretary and OAVS Chairperson Rafael E. Seguis said.

“We are encouraging registered overseas absentee voters to exercise their hard-earned right of suffrage, so they can be involved in deciding who will compose our next set of national leaders come July. We also urge them to vote now, in order to avoid last minute queues at the polling places.” he added.

Undersecretary Seguis also said that the OAVS Support Center at the DFA, under the guidance of OAVS Vice Chairperson Nestor Padalhin, is operating round-the-clock for the duration of the national elections.

The Center provides support to the Embassies and Consulates General by responding to queries, accepting reports, and providing election-related information.

Philippine Embassies and Consulates General around the world continue their information campaigns to urge Filipinos to go out and vote early.

The overseas voters will have the opportunity to elect the next President, the Vice President, 12 senators and one party-list representative.

Registered overseas absentee voters have one month, or until May 10, to cast their vote.

Related Posts

1. OAV Updates Thailand: Philippine presidential election
2. Overseas Absentee Voting Consular Outreach Schedules
3. Election 2010: What Do Pinoys in Thailand Have to Say?
4. Bangkok: PHILIPPINE EMBASSY ADVISORY
5. Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are now exempted from paying tax

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 18th, 2010 at 7:11 am and is filed under DFA Philippines, Philippine Embassy Thailand Advisory. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.