Special Board of Canvassers Chairperson Senen T. Mangalile affixes this thumb prints on a copy of the final unofficial results for the 2019 Philippine National Elections Overseas Voting in the UK and Ireland.

14 May 2019 LONDON—The Philippine Embassy in London registered a 25% voter turn-out for the 2019 National Elections Overseas Absentee Voting in the United Kingdom and Ireland or 8,175 actual votes out of 32,442 registered voters.  This is a sharp increase in voter turnout for midterm elections with only around 1,300 registered voters out of around 13,000 in the UK and Ireland who exercised their right to vote in the 2013 National Elections.

The voting period in London and Ireland ended at exactly 11:00 a.m. BST or 6:00 p.m. Philippine time, pursuant to COMELEC rules.  All ballots received by the Special Ballot Reception and Custody Group (SBRCG) beyond 11:00 a.m. were deemed invalid.

The Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEI) conducted the final batch ballot feeding into the vote counting machines (VCMs) from 13 May, 3:30 p.m. to 14 May 4:30 p.m. without any breaks of interruptions for all ballots received from 12 to 13 May.  The batch ballot feeding was immediately followed by the canvassing of votes to be led by the Special Board of Canvassers (SBOC).

The final unofficial results for the 2019 Philippine National Elections are posted in all of the Embassy’s public information platforms. A copy can also be viewed here.

This year, in accordance to COMELEC Resolution 18-1124, the UK and Ireland adopted a purely postal mode of voting.  Ballots were either posted to or personally collected by the registered voters within the Embassy’s area of jurisdiction.  This underscored the importance of registered voters updating their records within the COMELEC’s registration period which took place from 01 December 2016 to 31 September 2018.  END