118,335 overseas voters register

More than 118,000 Filipinos based abroad have been registered by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as overseas absentee voters in the last 10 months.

Commissioner Arthur Lim said the poll body’s regional election registration boards (RERB) had approved the applications for registration of 118,335 overseas Filipino voters as of Sept. 30.

“We have 118,335 registered overseas voters. Additional applications for registration [are] being readied for the next round of RERB hearings,” said Lim, who heads the Office for Overseas Voting.

The Comelec resumed its overseas voters’ registration for the May 2019 midterm polls on Dec. 1, 2016. It will end on Sept. 30, 2018.

So far, the Comelec has recorded 1,376,067 overseas absentee voters in the May 2016 national and local elections.

“The 118,335 newly approved new registrants will bring the total to 1,418,335 registered overseas voters as of Sept. 30,” Lim said.

Filipino citizens who are abroad during the 30-day absentee voting period may register as overseas absentee voters.