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Filipino expats can vote at missions from tomorrow

A mock election was held at the Philippine Consulate General on Wednesday to test and seal six Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines shipped from Manila to automate the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for the first time starting April 13.

A team from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in Manila was present to oversee the final testing and sealing of the six PCOS machines, which were synchronised with Manila’s local time to end the voting at 3pm on May 13 or 6pm Manila time.

Filipinos in the UAE and the rest of the world can vote through OAV for one month from April 13 to May 13 this year to select 12 senators and one partylist representative to sit at the Senate, the upper house of the legislative making body in the Philippines.

They will choose 12 from 33 senatorial candidates and one partylist representative from out of 136 aspiring candidates.

COMELEC Director Ester Villaflor-Roxas, who led the OAV team overseeing the activation, final testing and sealing of PCOS, said that eight PCOS were brought to the Philippine Consulate in Dubai and five in Abu Dhabi.

“We have always set aside two PCOS in every diplomatic post for contingency. We have purchased 82,000 PCOS for this coming automated 2013 elections, 33 of which have been deployed to the Middle East, including 13 in the UAE.”

Earlier, 12 SBEIs and Special Board of Canvassers in Dubai and 18 in Abu Dhabi were trained from April 7 to 9 by the Manila team on automated elections since both diplomatic posts will undergo for the first time automated elections for Overseas Filipinos in UAE .

lily@khaleejtimes.com