Overseas Filipino Workers in Kuwait (OFWs) lined up in the Philippine Embassy on Saturday to exercise their rights to suffrage. The month-long election kicked off Saturday morning with a huge turnout of approximately three hundred voters. The expected number of voters is expected to rise as a massive media campaign is currently ongoing to encourage voting. Filipinos will be voting for 12 senators and one party-list representative in the upcoming elections.

Prior to the opening of the embassy premises for voters, Charges D Affairs Mohammad Nordin Lomondot visited the queue outside the embassy and welcomed everyone and thanked them for their eagerness to cast their votes and express their nationalism towards the country. He noted that Kuwait has the highest number of registered Filipino voters in the Middle East and that much is expected among OFWs in the country. Lomondot proceeded to cast his vote and was followed by a group of senior citizens.

A special line was allocated to pregnant women, senior citizens and people with disabilities. In a recent interview with Luis Carlos Osorio, VCM Technical Support Staff and former DFA-OVS Desk Officer for the Middle East and Africa said that there are more than 90,000 registered Filipino voters in Kuwait and that only those who have registered their names in the Philippine Embassy will be allowed to vote.

The Philippine Embassy will be open for seven days a week from 8 am till 5 pm from Saturday, 13 April till 13 May and the election will close on the same day at 1 pm. The ballot counting will immediately commence. Several Filipinos have shared their opinions as to how they chose their candidates. Among the most common reasons for their choices were the candidates displaying honesty with their intentions, integrity and honor, hard work, a generous spirit to serve the country and the Filipinos. The Embassy also released a reminder to everyone that they should bring their voters IDs, and that five precincts have been allocated for voters and master lists of names of those who have registered and voted in the past. Should voters’ names not appear on the list, officials stated that a contingency solution is available.

Ricky Laxa
Staff Writer


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