Overseas voting for PH May midterms has begun

Filipinos voting in Hong Kong during a previous Philippine election. INQUIRER FILE

The month-long overseas voting for the May midterm polls began Saturday, April 13 in 80 Philippine diplomatic posts all over the world.

A total of 41 posts will be using vote counting machines (VCM) in Agana, Calgary, Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, Ottawa, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington, Brunei, Canberra, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Taipei, Osaka, Seoul, Singapore, Syndey, Tokyo, Wellington, Athens, London, Madrid, Milan, Rome, Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Al-Khobar, Riyadh, and Tel Aviv.

Another mode of voting is the manual system, which is either thru postal or personal voting.

Postal voting will be utilized in Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Santiago, Bangkok, Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Islamabad, Port Moresby, Yangon, Ankara, Berlin, Berne, Brussels, Budapest, Geneva, Lisbon, Moscow, Oslo, Paris, Prague, The Hague, Vienna, Warsaw, Abuja, Cairo, and Pretoria.

Personal voting will used in Dhaka, Dili, Jakarta, Manado, New Delhi, Phnom Penh, Shanghai, Vientiane, Xiamen, Vatican, Amman, Nairobi, and Tehran.

For the 2019 polls, there are 1,822,173 overseas voters; 1,779,140 are land-based workers while sea-based workers total 43,033.

The Middle East and African Region have the highest number of voters with 887,744; followed by the Asia Pacific Region with 401,390; North and Latin American Region with 345,415; and European Region with 187,624.

There will be no overseas voting in conflict-ridden posts: Damascus, Syria; Tripoli, Libya and Bagdhad, Iraq. The Comelec is not expecting the conflicts to be resolved anytime soon.