Only 48K of 1.2M overseas voters enrolled so far for 2025 elections —Comelec

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday said only 48,000 overseas Filipino voters have enrolled so far in the pre-voting enrollment system for the 2025 polls.

“Forty-eight thousands na ang na-i-enroll natin na mga kababayan (Forty-eight thousand of our countrymen have already been enrolled),” Comelec chairperson George Garcia said in a press conference.

Garcia said there are 1.231 million Filipino voters abroad.

Comelec is expecting more overseas Filipinos will be able to vote in the 2025 polls with the first-ever internet voting system.

In the last elections with 1.697 million overseas Pinoy voters, Garcia said the voter turnout was around 40.59%, which is already the highest in history.

“Sana man lang dahil internet voting tayo kahit 1.231 million lang botante, sana man lang maka-50% more,” Garcia said.

(I hope that because we have internet voting we can get at least get 50% from the total voters.)

“Napakalaking benepisyo po nitong internet voting lalo na sa mga kababayan natin na seafarers dahil hindi nila kinakailangan dumaong pa sa isang pier para makaboto. Kahit sa kanilang paglalayag sa barko, may cellphone, laptop, iPad—makakaboto na po sila,” he added.

(This internet voting is a huge benefit, especially for our seafarers because they don’t have to dock at a port to vote. Even while they’re sailing on a ship, they have a cellphone, laptop, iPad—they can vote.)

The Comelec opened the pre-voting enrollment system for the online voting and counting system (OVCS) on March 20.

Garcia earlier said that they are also ready for the influx of Filipino voters abroad who may opt to manually cast their ballots.

Of the 90 Philippine diplomatic posts, 77 will participate in the first-ever online voting and counting system (OVCS) and 16 will use automated counting machines (ACMs).

Voters can do the pre-voting enrollment through their own internet-capable device, voting kiosks at the Philippine Posts, or the field/mobile pre-voting enrollment scheduled by the Philippine Post.

Voters should observe the following in the pre-voting enrollment:

• Sign up using the official link for pre-voting enrollment provided by the Comelec;
• Follow the instructions indicated therein; and
• Once the pre-voting enrollment is successful, the overseas voter can vote online during the 30-day overseas voting period.

The start of the overseas voting is on Sunday, April 13. Overseas voters can cast their votes online until May 12, election day in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, overseas Filipino voters who are having difficulty enrolling in the pre-voting system may directly contact their respective embassies for manual registration.—LDF, GMA Intergrated News