JEDDAH, 10 May 2004 — Close to 3,000 registered voters swamped the three voting centers in the Kingdom yesterday, raising the total number of ballots cast to about 57,500 on the penultimate day of the Philippines’ first absentee voting exercise.
More than 97,000 Filipinos have registered as absentee voters in the Kingdom, of which about 23,500 ballots were cast in Riyadh, 20,000 in Jeddah, and about 14,000 in Alkhobar 4 p.m. yesterday.
All over Middle East, close to 90,000 have voted out of a total of 157,000 registered voters, according to ABS-CBN’s Balitang Middle East team.
Officials and poll monitors said the total number of votes cast is not that bad, considering that the Philippine elections usually have turnout not exceeding 70 percent of registered voters.
The turnout in the Kingdom, which has the biggest number of registered voters, however, paled in comparison to that of Hong Kong, which had close to 88,000 registered voters.
Some 60,000 have already showed up at the polls but yesterday a steady stream of Filipinos were filing in at the Philippine Consulate General as volunteer poll workers wearing green vests helped steer traffic.
Carmela Panes, a spokeswoman for the local consulate, said many of the registered voters, mostly domestic help, were voting for the first time and they were seizing the opportunity to select their next leader.
Lulu Salazar reached the voting age of 21 in the Philippines in the 1970s, but the 19-year Hong Kong expatriate only recently cast her first presidential vote.
She said she’s more excited than words can describe. “I have to have something to tell my children. At least I participated in selecting the people ruling the Philippines,” the 48-year-old former banker said yesterday.
“I feel wonderful,” said maid Melojane Tarangco, 35, after casting her vote yesterday at the Bayanihan Kennedy Town Center for overseas maids.
“I just want to show I’m a citizen. It’s my obligation to do so,” the native of Cagayan Valley said.
Salazar, executive director of the local Philippine Chamber of Commerce, called her first vote empowering. “You feel like you belong to a country,” she said. Salazar said while she lived in the Philippines for several years after turning 21, frequent travel for work prevented her from voting in elections.
Domestic helper organizer Eman Villanueva said overseas voting was “long overdue” and gives expatriate workers a crucial voice in “shaping up the political system in our home country.”
Those who have not yet voted have only three hours to catch up today, when the voting centers open from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
The closing time of 10 a.m. in the Kingdom corresponds to the 3 p.m. closing time for casting of ballots in the Philippines. (Additional input from The Associated Press)