MANILA: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday renewed its appeal to qualified Filipinos to sign up as voters to be able to participate in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) this October.
Comelec Chairperson George Garcia made this call as the number of registrants remains low with just a few weeks before the registration period ends on Jan. 31.
“Let’s take the opportunity while every Comelec office is not yet crowded. Let’s not register at the end or before the end of the registration period where there will be long queues. We don’t want that kind of situation to happen. While there are still no long lines. I hope that they can register so that they will able to fulfill their duty as a citizen of this country and later on, they will exercise their right to vote,” the poll body chief said in a Laging Handa briefing.
Garcia reported that since the resumption of voter registration on Dec. 12, 2022, they have only received over 200,000 voter applications.
“As expected, when voter’s registration starts, the number of registrants is not that high, despite the appeal to young and regular voters to register. We are saddened since our projection is between 1.5 to 2 million new voters,” Garcia said.
Earlier, the poll body reported that from Dec. 12, the resumption of the registration period up to Dec. 30, 2022, new SK voter applicants (aged 15 to 17) reached 60,491.
New registrants for the age bracket of 18 to 30 years old, is at 101,944, while the regular registration applicants (21 years old and above) numbered at 25,694.
Source: Philippines News Agency
