Dubai: The turnout in absentee voting for this year's Philippine national elections has already surpassed the record posted in 2007, authorities overseeing the balloting said over the weekend.

According to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), a total of 118,053 overseas absentee electors have cast their ballot as of 9am on Friday. The number has eclipsed the 81,732 turnout for the 2007 elections, said a statement from the DFA's Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat. The Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate in Dubai were among the top 10 foreign service posts with the highest turnout of voters. Of the 17,041 registered voters in Abu Dhabi, 2,703 have already voted while Dubai has so far received 2,527 votes cast from among the 30,642 qualified voters.

Voters in the UAE have until 2pm today to cast their ballot.

While the figure has surpassed the 16 per cent overseas voter turnout in the 2007 mid-term election, it is still a far cry from the 65 per cent turnout recorded in the first absentee voting in 2004 which was a tightly contested race between President Gloria Arroyo and the late Philippine film legend Fernando Poe Jr.

Earlier, Ambassador to the UAE Grace Relucio Princesa predicted a far better turnout as electors will be voting for a president while Adelio Antonio Cruz, first secretary of the Embassy, was pleased with the surge of voters.

The expected low turnout in the third time Filipino expats were allowed to directly participate again raised questions on where the problem really lies.

Preparations for this year's absentee voting began as early as 2008 when the Commission on Elections (Comelec) started consulting non-governmental organisations, the DFA and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas to ensure that voter turnout in the 2004 elections would not be repeated. Among the major adjustments made for this year's election — which applied to the UAE setting — was the holding of a longer registration period and the limiting of voting period to 30 days. "The longer registration period and the month-long balloting were meant to give expatriates enough time to adjust their schedules and find a way for them to register and vote," a Comelec official said.

Location

Expatriates and officials interviewed by Gulf News however, were one in saying that the location of the consulate near the industrial area in Al Qusais is a major factor in why a small fraction of the estimated over 300,000 Filipinos bothered to register and vote.

"Not all who had registered decided to vote. Many of those who registered went to the Consulate not really to register for the elections. They were at the Consulate either to process their passports or attend weddings. Their registration was just accidental," said Walter Lim, a Dubai-based officer of a Philippine bank. "They could've provided a shuttle service but that will in turn violate our election laws."

Quick view: Expats' choice

Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III has consistently led pre-election surveys even before he announced he was standing for the presidency in September. He also topped the survey conducted in the UAE by the San Beda Alumni Association in March. Aquino likewise cornered 40 per cent of votes cast in an online poll run by gulfnews.com as of 4am on Sunday.

While the Aquino bandwagon would most likely end up in the presidential palace, some Filipino expatriates continue to support his rivals. Peter Lopez, of Ocean Emirates Media, said he originally supported Gilbert Teodoro, but he later switched to evangelist Eddie Villanueva. Gerardo Escaño, an aircraft mechanic at Emirates, said he's batting for Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party because they both hail from the same city. Paul Ryan Diaz, who works at Sony, would've chosen Teodoro "but he'll not win". He has since taken the side of Aquino because "he's a sure winner".

Who did you vote for? Do you see the elections bringing change to the Philippines? What would you like to see improve in your country?