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Comelec promises to broaden OFWs’ voting rights
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Posted on Aug 26 2011
[B]MANILA[/B]–IN a move aimed at strengthening the country’s democratic fabric, the Commission on Elections will carry out a program to broaden the suffrage rights of global Filipinos.
Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco made the announcement in a recent meeting with Convenors of the Global Filipino Nation, a group of global Filipinos.
“Comelec supports the goal of global Filipinos to deepen their participation in the election of our national leaders,” he said. “If one were to consider the dependents of overseas Filipinos who live in the Motherland, they would constitute a large proportion of our population.”
The areas covered by the suffrage broadening program for global Filipinos include legislation on Internet Voter Registration, Internet Voting and the removal of the Affidavit to Return executed by immigrant overseas voters. Doing away with the Affidavit to Return will resolve questions about the necessity of requiring overseas Filipinos to come home.
The GFN Convenors also proposed for Comelec to undertake truly continued, uninterrupted voter registration for global Filipinos. Such a continuing voter registration, in accordance with Section 7 of R.A. 9189, would stipulate a cut-off date for determining eligibility for voting in a given election. [B][I](OFW Journalism Consortium)
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