Comelec surpasses target voter registrants

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said the number of registered voters for the 2010 national elections has breached the 50-million threshold even without the addition of the December registrants, which reached more than 258,000.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez told reporters that the poll body has gone beyond its target of 47 million registered voters. “We have reached 50 million, but that’s not final yet . . . that does not include the December registrants,” Jimenez said.

Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said some 258,691 voters took advantage of the extended registration period in December last year, adding the count is not final as the commission has yet to receive the reports from the two municipalities in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Pata and Kaluwangan, this week.

“But definitely, it will not be over 300,000 . . . maybe just a few thousands from 258,000,” Larrazabal said.

The commissioner said the turnout of the December registrants is “very low” because majority of the voting public enlisted during the original registration period of December 1, 2008 to October 31, 2009.

In December last year, the Supreme Court ordered the poll body to allow the extension of the registration period after favoring a petition from Ang Kabataan party-list. The poll body, however, only allowed a four-day extension despite the High Court’s order to set the extension deadline to January 9.

The commission balked, saying that extending the registration period will affect its timetable for the printing of ballots.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo had reiterated his stand against prolonging the registration period, as this would violate the election law, which states that registration must be done 120 days before election day. –Bernice Camille V. Bauzon, Manila Times