Envoys told to explain low voter turnout

Undersecretary Rafael Seguis. AFP file photo

FOREIGN Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said  the turnout of overseas voters remained low at 66,378, or less than 10 percent more than a week after the voting started.

There are 1.37 million registered overseas voters.

He said the Overseas Voting Secretariat of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will ask heads of diplomatic outposts to explain the low voter turnout, particularly in the Americas and Europe.

The Philippine embassies in Chile and Mexico have zero and one voter turnout, respectively,  nine days after the start of overseas voting  on April 9.

Overseas voters have until May 9 to cast their votes.

“I will  make an inquiry with diplomatic posts with low voters turnout and ask them why,” said Seguis in a text message Sunday.

So far, the highest voter turnout was in Singapore, with 9,149 ballots cast as of April 17. This was followed by the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong with 7,833 voters so far.

Filipinos in Arab countries also showed enthusiasm for the 2016 national elections. The precinct in Dubai recorded 4,864 voters and in Riyadh, 4,700.

In Europe, the highest voter turnout was in Rome with 1,025 ballots cast.

Regionwide, the Americas still had the lowest  turnout with only 1,601 of the 275,729 registered voters casting ballots.

Filipinos in the Middle East and Africa had the highest number of votes cast with 32,134 of the total  593,772 registered voters.

The Asia-Pacific has a total of 344,848 registered voters but so far, less than 10 percent, or  25,008, has cast their votes.

Europe has a total of 161,718 registered voters but so far, only 7,635 have cast ballots over the week.