Election official foresees voters’ number decline

LAMITAN CITY, Basilan – An election official is optimistic there will be a successful voters’ registration though he foresees a decline in the number of voters to be registered in this province.

Provincial Election Supervisor Roberto Dela Peña said on Monday that there are many contributory factors that would result to the decline of voters to be registered.

The registration of new voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm), of which this province is part of, started on Monday and would end on July 18.

Dela Peña said one of the contributory factors is the inclement weather the province had been experiencing.

Dela Peña said there are some areas the registration of voters started late by two and a half hours since the Voters Registration Machines (VRMs) and the generator sets did not arrived on time due to inclement weather.

The voters’ registration is from 8 a.m. up to 5 p.m. daily from Monday until on the 18th of this month.

The generators will be used in areas where there not electricity and to be used during brownouts.

Dela Peña said the other contributory factor is the death of voters whose names still appear in the previous list of registered voters.

“Definitely, since they are already dead, they could no longer register anew or be registered,” he said.

The other factor is the transfer of residency of the voters to another place from Armm, he said.

However, he could not say as to how many percent would be the decline in the number of voters in this province.

The previous number of registered voters in this province was 179,811, he said.

Meanwhile, Dela Pena said they have designated more than 200 Commission on Elections personnel to handle the registration of voters.

They are from the National Capital Region and Zamboanga Peninsuls Region, according to Dela Peña.