Friday, March 16, 2007 Party-list voting expected to increase
THEIR roles in the Estrada impeachment, the attempt to unseat the former chief justice, the Nicole rape case and the “Batasan Five” have made party-list groups popular across the country.
But whether they are popular and effective enough to make the people write their party-list names on the ballot on May 14 remains to be seen.
A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official believes, though, that Cebuanos are now more aware of party-list groups and he expects a higher turnout of votes for them this year.
“I would say the public is now ready to vote for partylist groups. More people are now aware of their roles because of their performance and the publicity they created in Congress. They have been very vocal on certain events and what they did has created awareness about their groups,” said Comelec Regional Attorney Lionel Castillano.
In the 2004 elections in Cebu Province, 350,790 votes were cast for all 66 partylist groups accredited by the Comelec. This means that only about 22.5 percent of the province’s registered voters bothered to vote for a party representative.
The turnout was slightly better in Cebu City, where 127,995 votes were cast in the party-list system. Still, that figure is only 28.5 percent of the total number of registered voters.
Whether they are joining street rallies or holed up inside the Batasan complex, some partylist groups have gotten the attention of the local voters, Castillano believes.
“I’m optimistic that the number of voters who will cast their votes for party-list will go up. We have groups who are active in Cebu and with or without an election, they are around,” he said in an interview after the forum.
For Abanse Pinay’s first nominee Tessie Fernandez, more should be done to educate the public about the party-list system and their role in Congress.
She said that more partylist groups should be accredited by Comelec to represent marginalized sectors and that Comelec should not discriminate against some of the groups. (LCR)
