By Raynald C Rivera
DOHA: For the first time, the Philippine embassy will adopt the automated election system for the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) in the national elections that start on Saturday, which will make the counting and transmitting of results to the Philippines faster.
“The advantage is that we will be able to count the results faster and to transmit it same time, unlike before when we had to bring home the ballots to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which takes time. Now there will be a satellite setup here for us to transmit the election returns the same day,” Philippine Ambassador Wilfredo C Santos said yesterday.
Doha is one of only 30 out of 85 foreign service posts around the world which will adopt the automated election system in the upcoming elections.
Ambassador Santos was speaking at a mock elections held at the embassy in which 40 community members participated to test the four vote-counting machines (VCMs) to be used in the month-long OAV. “This is part of modernizing the system and using these machines will make it easier for us to conduct the elections,” he explained, adding Doha was chosen to have automated election system due to the big number of registered voters.
There are nearly 40,000 registered overseas Filipino voters in Qatar which, Ambassador Santos said, is a significant number.
He urged the community members to take part in the polls. “In the past elections we had only at most 20 percent turnout which is not a good turnout. Comelec wants us to have 80 percent turnout. Whether that’s possible or not depends on our Filipino nationals. So make your vote count, it’s part of your civic duties as a citizen and it’s time for you to make your presence felt in the elections.”
During the election, the embassy will be open every day to receive voters, from 8am to 5pm from Sunday to Thursday and from 9am to 6pm on Friday and Saturday. Overseas Absentee Voting ends at exactly 12 noon on May 9. To cast his vote, a registered voter must present either his passport or his Qatar ID for verification. He must not vote beyond the required number for each position otherwise the ballot will be invalid, said Santos. “I would like to encourage our Filipino overseas voters to cast their votes to take part in shaping the future of our country. I am confident that our people will heed the call for them to come out and vote for this very important election.”
The Peninsula
