MANILA — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is gearing up to implement online voting for overseas Filipinos in the upcoming 2025 national elections.
According to Philippines News Agency, its Overseas Voting Secretariat (OVS) and the Commission on Elections-Office for Overseas Voting (Comelec-OFOV) have been actively preparing by conducting training sessions and information drives in various global locations including South Korea, Spain, Hong Kong SAR, and Singapore. DFA Undersecretary and OVS Chairperson Jesus Domingo stated, "DFA-OVS fully supports Comelec with this new mode of voting, aimed at making the electoral process more accessible and convenient for our Kababayans abroad." He emphasized the importance of information campaigns in ensuring the success of internet voting.
Further training sessions are planned in major cities such as San Francisco, Prague, Abu Dhabi, Vancouver, and Doha in the coming months. Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia suggested that if the internet voting initiative is successful among overseas voters, it could potentially be expanded to include domestic voters such as senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and pregnant women.
A total of 76 foreign service posts, including the Manila Economic Cultural Offices (MECOs), are set to conduct internet voting for the 2025 elections. The deadline for overseas voter registration is September 30, 2024.