Hong Kong post logs record 64.18% voter turnout despite issues
MANILA, Philippines — More Hong Kong-based Filipinos cast their ballots this year despite problems encountered in the early days of the month-long overseas voting period.
In a statement made Monday evening, the Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Hong Kong said it registered a “record-breaking voter turnout rate” of 64.18% with 60,252 voting out of the 93,886 registered Filipino voters under its jurisdiction.
Philippine Consul to Hong Kong Raly Tejada thanked the Filipino community there and commended the consulate’s personnel and volunteers for “their hard work and unquestionable integrity.”
“Even the Hong Kong Police was impressed with the orderly and efficient manner by which we conducted these elections,” Tejada said in a separate post.
The consulate previously had to ask Filipino voters in Hong Kong to consider voting on other days on the first day of the overseas voting period after local police flagged the long lines to the foreign service post.
Hong Kong was dealing with a wave of COVID-19 infections so safety precautions and strict pandemic measures were in place.
READ: Overseas Filipino voters in Hong Kong asked to come back on other days to avoid crowding
The first day of the voting period fell on a Sunday, when most Hong Kong-based Filipinos had a day-off. The consulate appealed to employers to allow Filipino voters to cast their votes on weekdays “when crowds are substantially thinner.”
Due to the volume of voters in Hong Kong, authorities also added five more vote counting machines and voting precincts to cater up to 5,000 voters daily.
“The Special Board of Canvassers of the PCG in Hong Kong successfully transmitted to [the Commission on Elections] the certificate of canvass for all foreign service posts in China this afternoon at 2:58 p.m.,” the consulate said on Monday evening.
Comelec acting spokesman John Rex Laudiangco told reporters in a message sent at 3:08 p.m. on Monday that the Hong Kong post’s transmission is complete. This means votes from Hong Kong, Macau, and Mainland China, except for Shanghai, were sent to the Comelec in Manila for canvassing on Monday.
READ: Comelec: Shanghai special polls to push through, but no date yet
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