Dubai: Filipino expatriates in the UAE eligible to vote in the Philippine elections in April next year have less than a month left to register.
Overseas Absentee Voter Registration in Philippine missions around the world, including in the UAE, will end on September 30.
All Filipinos who are at least 18 years of age by May 13, 2019 who have not registered or are not disqualified by law, may register at the Philippine embassy and consulate.
Mid-term elections
Voting in Philippine missions abroad will be held for one month beginning April 13.
During the 2019 mid-term polls, overseas Filipino voters will get to elect 12 senators and a party-list representative.
Consul Rowena Daquipil from the Philippine Embassy said the election fever is more palpable during presidential elections, hence more voters register for it.
“Historically, more people register when there are presidential elections as compared to midterm elections. Be that as it may, the embassy has already registered a sizeable number of overseas Filipinos in the past,” Daquipil told Gulf News.
The embassy recorded a total of 45,216 new registrants in Abu Dhabi, the capital, from December 1, 2016 to September 4, 2018.
In Dubai, the Philippine Consulate-General, in a statement sent to Gulf News, said a total of 108,950 overseas Filipinos from Dubai and the Northern Emirates registered to vote from December 2016 until the end of August this year.
Target hit
The number surpassed the target of 97,353 registrants set by Manila’s Commission on Elections and Department of Foreign Affairs, the statement read.
There are more than 600,000 Filipinos in the UAE, the majority of whom reside in Dubai and the Northern Emirates.
To register, overseas Filipinos may visit the embassy in Abu Dhabi or the consulate in Dubai on weekdays, except legal holidays, from 8am to 5pm until September 30.
Applicants are requested to bring a copy of their passport and complete the Overseas Absentee Voting form that may be downloaded from the missions’ websites and are also available at both missions.
The Philippines' mid-term elections will be held on May 13, 2019, where voters will elect their next 12 senators, more than 300 congressmen and thousands of local officials from governors to mayors to city and provincial board members.
OFW voters, who will be allowed to vote for one month from April 13, 2019, will only get to elect 12 senators and a party-list member of the House of Representatives.
