DFA: Record number of overseas voters registered for 2013 polls



BY PATRICIA DENISE CHIU, GMA NEWS 
Despite the comparatively small number of Filipinos in Israel, the Philippine Embassy there has registered the highest number of Oversees Absentee Voters (OAV) for the past three elections, theDepartment of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.
 
According to the DFA website, OAV registrants in Tel Aviv made history by breaking all three OAV registration records and targets for 2012, two months before the October deadline for new registrants. Numbers have also risen to surpass even the combined actual OAV registrants from 2003 to 2009, the Foreign Affairs Department said.  
 
The Embassy also reported that there were 5,040 new registrants as of Sunday, the highest number ever registered in a single day. 
 
The impressive number of OAVs registered in Israel was due to creative strategies like the launch of mass text messages through a popular Pinoy-used network.
 
Mass Short Message Sending or SMS transmissions were sent to more than 8,100 active Filipino subscribers through an Israeli telecommunications network called Orange/WIC, the DFA said. “It also coordinated with the office of The Filipino Channel (TFC) Global Post which carried an OAV registration bulletin for many months,” the department added.
 
“Another equally important strategy is the OAV field registration activity. The Embassy conducted two field registration campaigns, one in Haifa to the north of Tel Aviv and one in Eilat in the southernmost region of Israel.” the DFA added.
 
There are an estimated 35,000 to 41,000 Filipinos in Israel. So far 14 percent of this number are new OAV registrants, and the combined figure of 9,790 (4,750 old registrants plus 5,040 for 2013) represents 27.4 percent of the total estimated Pinoy population in Israel. 
 
On top of the numbers of registrants in Israel, the overall number for OAV registrants world-wide hasincreased across the board, compared to numbers from the last national elections in 2010. As of August 31, the DFA reported there were 249,391 new OAV registrants for the 2013 polls. There were 235,950 new OAV registrants in 2010.
 
Registering as an OAV will allow all registered Filipinos abroad to vote for the next set of senators and party-list representatives in the Midterm Elections in April to May 2013.
 
OAV registration is open until October 31, 2012. — DVM, GMA News

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