1.3M overseas voters sign up

A TOTAL of 1,301,598 overseas absentee voters (OAVs) have registered for the 2016 elections, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said Monday.

The bulk of the OAVs—almost 550,000—were in the Middle East and Africa. The others were in Asia and the Pacific (320,000), Americas (250,000) and Europe (150,000). Seafarers accounted for 30,000.

Seguis, chair of the Department of Foreign Affairs-Overseas Voting Secretariat, said the 1.3 million overseas voters could translate to 5.2 million votes.

“This is a definite game changer for Philippine politics,” he said.

The DFA continues to register OAVs at Philippine foreign outposts, including the three Manila Economic and Cultural Offices, 15 local overseas voter registration centers and other field/mobile registration centers of the Commission on Elections. Christine O. Avendaño, Jocelyn R. Uy