JEDDAH, 11 May 2004 — The expected onslaught of voters didn’t occur; thus the last day of voting came down in history as the day with least number of voters.

Only 250 voters (the average daily turnout in Jeddah was between 300-500) came to vote at the consulate in Jeddah yesterday, making the total at 20,964 out of the registered 33,190, or 63 percent.

In Riyadh, the transition from voting to counting process went smoothly.

Vice Consul Adriano Cruz, in charge of the OAV in the national capital, said over 400 came to vote yesterday, raising the total number of voters to 23,800, or about 58 percent total registered voters in Riyadh.

In Alkhobar, Labor Attaché Delmer Cruz, in charge of the OAV in the Eastern Region, said only 13,998 of registered voters managed to cast their ballots.

The total of 57,768 votes cast in the Kingdom is about 60 percent of some 97,000 Filipino workers who registered in the first Philippine overseas absentee voting exercise.

The turnout is not bad for a “first-time exercise.”

Taha Guinomla, administrative officer of the consulate in Jeddah, and in-charge of the absentee voting in Jeddah, attributed two major reasons for the low turnout. “Many OFWs are still on vacation; the other lack of transportation,” he said.

To accommodate last-minute voters, the consulate opened a few minutes before 7 a.m. and closed at 10:05, (which synchronizes with the 3 p.m. closing of polling precincts in the Philippines.)

Still, two OFWs missed their chance to vote. Mel Guevarra and Aries Madrid made it to the consulate at 10:10 and were not allowed to vote because the polling precincts were already closed.

Guevarra told Arab News: “We came from Obhur. Had a flat tire on the way and were further delayed because of checkpoints.”

“I really wanted to vote but then it was not meant to be. We were late and we couldn’t bend the rules just to accommodate us. I’ll just have to wait for six years to vote for president, I guess.”

Volunteers of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) turned out in full force in all three voting centers in the Kingdom to monitor the tallying in all precincts. They are to report the count to Namfrel headquarters in Manila, which is conducting a “quick count.”

According to the Commission on Election, the overseas absentee voting exercise was successful with more than half of registered voters casting their ballots. Commissioner Florentino Tuason Jr., in charge of absentee voting, said the estimated 65 percent turnout “is very good for absentee voting.”

He said that of 354,000 registered, more than 200,000 have voted since April 11 for president, vice president, Senate and House members and local officials.

Hong Kong had the highest number of ballots cast with about 60,000 out of 88,000 registered Filipinos in the territory. (Additional input from Dinan Arana in Alkhobar, Bien Custodio in Riyadh, and Francis Salud in Jeddah.)

said Carmela Panes, a spokeswoman for the Philippine Consulate General.

But the OFW party-list group Migrante said the turnout could have been higher if Comelec and the Arroyo administration had done their jobs well.

“It’s as if we were disenfranchised by design. Although we’re certainly pleased that our long struggle to vote overseas scored a victory with the passage of the OAV Law, we’re utterly dismayed with how it was implemented,” bewailed Connie Bragas-Regalado, Migrante Party List chairperson.

Bragas-Regalado, an overseas absentee voter who cast her vote in Hong Kong April 11, was at the forefront of efforts to mobilize OFWs to register and vote.

This is the first time overseas Filipinos can vote. It’s unclear whether their vote will make much of a difference, but it could be a factor in the tight presidential race pitting incumbent Gloria Macapagal Arroyo against film star Fernando Poe Jr.

Although their absolute numbers may be relatively small, overseas workers are crucial to the country’s economy, sending home about $7 billion each year to supports millions of family members. Most of the workers are scattered around Asia, the Middle East, the United States and Canada.

In the case of the absentee vote, which started months ago, ballots at Philippine diplomatic missions and posts are counted on the spot and reported to Manila, officials said.

Final official results won’t be known for weeks because all the votes are counted by hand.

The Philippines has 43 million registered voters.