More than 160,000 Filipino voters yet to vote

Dubai: Less than two weeks left before the month-long Overseas Voting ends in the UAE and around 163,000 Filipinos have yet to cast their vote, which is worrying officials.

The Philippine presidential election began on April 9 worldwide, including the UAE. But out of the 194,621 registered voters in the UAE, only around 31,000 have voted as of Wednesday.

To accommodate more voters in the capital, the embassy will extend its timings from May 1 to May 8 from 8am to 8pm. Timings of 9am to 5pm will remain until April 30.

For the mission in Dubai, two field votings will be held this weekend.

Philippine Consul-General Paul Raymund Cortes urged Filipinos to head to Cassells Al Barsha Hotel on Friday from 10am to 6pm and at J5 Rimal Hotel Apartments in Deira on Friday and Saturday from 9am to 5pm. Those who prefer to vote at the consulate on these days can still do so as the mission is open for 13 hours every day from 8am to 9pm until May 8.

“I urge our more than 100,000 compatriots who haven’t voted yet to do so early and not leave voting to the last minute because we will not be able to accommodate all of them on the last day of elections,” Consul-General Paul Raymund Cortes told Gulf News.

Vice Consul Rowena Daquipil from the Philippine Embassy debunked the idea that the low voter turnout is due to the possibility that many registered voters may have already gone back to the Philippines for good or may have moved to a new country.

“The bulk of the new registrants or the 50,000 people that we registered from May 2014 to October 2015 are those who came to us to renew their passports. It’s only been a year since, it’s impossible for all of them have gone home for good,” Daquipil said.

Filipinos may visit the website of the Philippine embassy or consulate for the complete voters’ list to check whether they are registered.

Officials reiterated that on the last day of the election on May 9, the embassy and consulate will be open from 5am to 1pm only, coinciding with the election in the Philippines. Only those within 30 metres from the polling precinct will be allowed to vote by 1pm.