Friday, January 05, 2007 Number of Pangasinan voters to be known in 2 weeks By Liway C. Manantan-Yparraguirre
DAGUPAN CITY -- The number of registered voters in Pangasinan who are qualified to vote for this year's elections will be known on the third week of January.
This as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) provincial office said the last Election Registration Board (ERB) hearing will be on January 8 to 12. The number of new voters will also be known later.
In the 2004 elections, registered voters in the province reached 1,329,865. Of the number, 1,099,520 voted or exercised their right to suffrage.
As of October 16, 2006, the number of registered voters totaled 1,271,764. The figure is expected to increase as new registered and transferee voters are consolidated from the different local election offices.
Furthermore, there are still local registration offices that are completing the data on new voters whose names were included in the list of applicants on December 31, the last day of registration.
San Carlos City had been leading the cities and towns in Pangasinan as regards the number of registered voters in the province. This year, it has 80,250 registered voters as of Oct. 16, 2006. Dagupan City comes next with 76,756 registered voters.
Meanwhile, the Comelec said the election period starts on January 14 until June 13.
The filing of certificates of candidacy for senatorial and party-list candidates will be from January 15 to February 12, while for local candidates (representatives and governor down to city and municipal councilors) will be from January 15 to March 29.
The campaign period for senatorial and party-list candidates will start February 13 and end on May 12. For local and congressional candidates, they are allowed to campaign from March 30 to May 12.
