Comelec exec says first day of absentee voting ‘trouble-free’

MANILA – The first day of the three-day local absentee voting (LAV) went on smoothly as there were no reported glitches or untoward incidents so far, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Wednesday.

“Our expectation since the number of local absentee voters is not that many, only 84,000, our initial assessment is, it’s generally peaceful, no untoward incident reported,” said Comelec Commissioner George Garcia in a press briefing.

“We are also happy that the members of the media were able to vote at our regional office here. They have their own ‘kodigo’ since they will be voting manually,” he added.

Local absentee voters will only vote for national positions such as president, vice-president, senators and party-list group.

At the same time, Garcia said they are hoping that the same will happen during the May 9, 2022 national and local elections (NLE).

“Hopefully, when May 9 comes, it will be the same. Hopefully, our elections will be peaceful, fast and at the same time, everyone is protected from coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19),” he added.

Aside from the members of media, employees of the government in the military, police, health and others, who applied as LAV will be able to vote from April 27 to 29.

Comelec Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan and Commissioner Aimee Neri, who applied as LAV, have cast their votes on Wednesday at the poll body’s main office in Intramuros, Manila.

The poll body head is a registered voter in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur while Neri is a registered voter in Cagayan de Oro.

Garcia said those who applied for LAV but was not able to vote during the three-day voting period, will not be allowed to vote on May 9.

Local absentee voters have until Friday to cast their votes. The voting hours is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PNA)