Low Turn-Out in Absentee Voting Due to Ghost of Garci – Migrants’ Group
Published on May 22, 2010
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com
If there is one thing that keeps overseas Filipino workers (OFWs )from going through the hassles of overseas absentee voting, Migrante International said, it is because the ghost of Garci is still haunting the Filipino people.
“How sure are they that their votes would be counted?” Migrante chairperson Garry Martinez said, “The ghost of Garci is still here, haunting us.”
Garci is the moniker for former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano whose telephone conversation with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was recorded during the 2004 elections. In the said conversation, Arroyo was asking Garcillano to ensure that she wins by one million votes against Fernando Poe Jr. who was her rival for the presidency. Dubbed as the “Hello Garci scandal,” this almost caused the downfall of the Arroyo administration in 2005.
Martinez said their chapters abroad reported that most OFWs were discouraged to vote for fear that the election results would merely be manipulated even if it was automated.
Higher than 2007 But Still Low
This fear, according to Martinez, has resulted to a very low turn-out in the overseas absentee voting. With over 568,733 land-based registered voters and 21,097 seafarers, only 24 percent or 153,300 voted as of May 10, 7:00 p.m.
While this is higher than the 16 percent turnout during the 2007 elections, it is still considered low compared to the 2004 elections where there was a 65 percent turnout in the overseas absentee voting.
Migrante Middle East coordinator John Monterona said that no single post had reached a 50 percent turnout this election.... MORE
Source: Bulatlat.com
URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/05/22/low-turn-out-in-absentee-voting-due-to-ghost-of-garci-%E2%80%93-migrants%E2%80%99-group/
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