Thousands of overseas Philippine workers were expected at the polls in Hong Kong and Singapore yesterday to elect the country’s next president, a month ahead of voters at home.
Nearly 590,000 workers out of the 9 million-strong economic diaspora have registered to cast their ballots at embassies abroad, officials said.
Hong Kong and Singapore, which have a combined 128,000 voters, will serve partially as a test of the computerized system being used for the first time this year, Commission on Elections official Armando Velasco said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“Through this [overseas voting], we will know whether or not this really works,” Velasco told reporters, acknowledging popular concern that automated elections, aimed at curbing fraud and speeding up the process, will not work.
“We hope to learn a lot from the process,” he said.
The machines are expected to be used by about 50 million voters in the Philippines on May 10.
Filipino voters living in other countries can mail or cast their ballots at the nearest Philippine embassy or consulate between now and May 10.
About 9 million Filipinos live abroad, many of them working as maids, nurses or in construction.
They send billions of dollars every year to their families, helping make ends meet in a country where one in three people lives on US$1 or less a day.
Voters are electing a successor to Philippine President Gloria Arroyo.
Polls show the battle is shaping up as a contest between two senators, Benigno Aquino, son of the late democracy icon and former Philippine president Corazon Aquino, and multi-millionaire developer Manuel Villar.
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