AT the close of the 10-day voter registration period yesterday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said they expect the number of applicants to reach 2.6 million.
Voter registration activities for the December Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) opened last August 1 and ended yesterday.
Elections chairman George Garcia said the projection is based on the turnout during the last days of the voter list-up period.
“Safely, I think we’ll reach 2.6 million registrants. There were simply too many applicants today,” Garcia said in a phone interview.
Based on the latest data released by the Comelec, 2,136,230 voter registrants have applied as of August 9.
Of the figure, 411,063 individuals applied nationwide on August 9 (Saturday) alone.
The top 5 after nine days are Calabarzon, with 265,957; Central Luzon with 220,650 applicants; Bicol Region with 169,378; National Capital Region with 156,456; and Central Visayas with 144,141.
Garcia said they are grateful to the Filipino people for the surprise turnout of the brief voter registration period.
“We express our gratitude to the more than two million who volunteered, patiently lined up, and participated in the most successful, historic, and extraordinary opportunity like this in such a short period,” he said.
He said the high voter turnout proves the high interest in electoral exercises.
