Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 10) — More than 1.69 million Filipino voters overseas can now cast their votes for national candidates for the May 2022 elections.
Overseas voters may only vote for president, vice president, senators, and a party-list group.
According to the poll body, a total of 92 Philippine posts are assigned to conduct voting activities for the month-long period.
Bayan Muna Representative Ferdinand Gaite, however, criticized the “chaotic and disorganized” election system in Hong Kong during the first day.
In a statement, Gaite called for an “immediate investigation,” adding that he would ask the committee on suffrage and electoral reforms of the House of Representatives to summon the Comelec, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Hongkong consular office to investigate the matter.
“We cannot allow the potential massive disenfranchisement of our overseas voters due to the ineptitude and lack of proper organizing by these officials. The slashing of funds by the DBM for the overseas voting must also be looked into,” he said.
Citing a Facebook broadcast by Dolores Balladares Pelaez of UNIFIL-Migrante Hongkong, Gaite noted in the statement the Philippine consular office’s “failure…to accommodate the thousands of Filipino overseas in Hong Kong who came in droves to the Bayanihan Center at Victoria Road, Kennedy Town.”
In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong urged the Filipino community to “consider voting tomorrow or any day thereafter until Monday, May 09, 2022.”
The consular office stressed that Hong Kong authorities have set conditions to strictly comply with anti-pandemic measures.
“Please note that overseas voting will continue every day with no break, not even during public holidays for thirty (30) days until Monday, 09 May, 2022,” it said.
Data from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) showed Sunday that 1,697,215 Filipinos living abroad are registered for absentee voting, which will run from April 10 to May 9.
