Comelec expects 2-million new voters during 2022 polls
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) expects two million new registered voters for the 2022 polls.
Director James Jimenez of the Comelec's Education and Information Department made the projection ahead of the start of the registration for new voters from August 1 to September 30.
“This will be inclusive of Saturdays and holidays. Approximately two million new voters are expected to register during this period,” Jimenez said in a statement.
There were at least 61 million registered voters during the 2019 midterm polls.
Jimenez, however, clarified that Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) voters need not register anew upon turning eighteen as their names will automatically be transferred from the SK List of Voters to the regular List of Voters.
Under the 1987 Constitution, the right to suffrage “may be exercised by all citizens of the Philippines not otherwise disqualified by law, who are at least eighteen years of age, and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least one year and in the place wherein they propose to vote for at least six months immediately preceding the election.”
Likewise, the Charter provides that “no literacy, property, or other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the exercise of suffrage.” — Llanesca T. Panti/DVM/RSJ, GMA News