PH Commission on Elections anticipates a voter turnout of 70 to 75% for the 2023 local elections
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) anticipates a voter turnout of 70 to 75% for the 2023 local elections, referred to as Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), marking a slight increase from the previous BSKE.
Comelec Chair George Garcia said the voter turnout in the 2015 and 2018 elections ranged from 70 to 71 percent. He stated that there are no significant reasons for voters to abstain from participating this time, especially since there is an extended vacation period.
Voting for the 2023 BSKE occurred between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. and included approximately 68 million registered barangay voters and 24 million SK voters.
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Garcia also noted that voter turnout at the New Bilibid Prison was high, reaching 92% among the 880 registered voters in the facility. Across all facilities supervised by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the voter turnout stood at 77%.
However, A poll monitoring group reported that issues such as omitted names on the voter list and the distribution of sample ballots were observed as challenges during the said elections.’
During the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing, Dr. Arwin Serrano, the national coordinator of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), explained that certain names were absent from the voter list due to voters being moved to alternative voting centers as a result of re-clustering and the establishment of new voting centers.
He also acknowledged that there were incidents of violence in specific regions of the country on Election Day. However, PPCRV had deployed more than 250,000 volunteers to oversee the BSKE and provide support to voters.
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But Serrano emphasized despite these challenges, the elections were relatively peaceful.’’
As of Monday noon, the Philippine National Police (PNP) recorded 169 incidents of violence believed to be connected to the BSKE. Among these, only 31 have been confirmed as election-related, with 94 unrelated incidents, and 44 cases still under validation.
