Filipinos in 25 countries snub absentee polls

MANILA, Philippines—Filipinos in 25 countries snubbed the overseas absentee voting, the Commission on Elections en banc sitting as National Board of Canvassers said Wednesday night.

The board said these countries include Columbia, Netherlands, Suriname, Venezuela, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Latvia, Burundi, Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Zambia and Macedonia.

These countries have 1,122 registered voters who were supposed to use the postal system of voting, according to Comelec-Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting Chairman Lucenito Tagle.

The month-long OAV has a total of 227 voting centers worldwide.