By Alyssa Marie Luciano
The Commission on Election (Comelec) on Wednesday (April 6) suspended overseas voting in Shanghai, China due to rising COVID-19 cases in the area.
The suspension will affect 1,600 Filipinos in Shanghai eligible to cast their votes in the 2022 polls.
Comelec Commissioner and Commissioner-in-Charge for the Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV) Marlon Casquejo said the Commission en Banc may also suspend overseas voting in Baghdad, Iraq; Algeria, Chad, Tunisia, Libya; Islamabad, Afghanistan; and Ukraine for Warsaw.
“I think we will be declaring a suspension of elections in certain areas,” Casquejo said in a press conference, noting that the seven areas have 127 registered voters.
The commissioner explained that the poll in Islamabad and Warsaw might be suspended due to the mandatory repatriations that are currently happening in the areas.
Meanwhile, voting will also be put on hold in Baghdad and Tripoli for currently not having voting capabilities yet.
“The OFOV is still waiting for formal confirmation from the DFA-OVS (Department of Foreign Affairs-Overseas Voting Secretariat) as to the Posts’ capacity to conduct overseas voting for the active registered overseas voters,” he added.
Overseas voting will start on April 10 which will run until the national election day on May 9.
Overseas voters will only vote for national candidates only, including president, vice-president, senator, and party-list groups.
Meanwhile, Comelec data showed that there are 1.7 million overseas absentee voters, including 450,282 Filipinos in the Asia Pacific. -gb
