More than 50 Filipino community and organization leaders based in Abu Dhabi, UAE participated in Day 2 of the Training and Information Drive on Internet Voting for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region on 26 October 2024, conducted by the COMELEC and the Department of Foreign Affairs- Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA-OVS) in partnership with the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
26 October 2024, Abu Dhabi, UAE– The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and Department of Foreign Affairs- Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA- OVS), in partnership with the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi, conducted the first Training and Information Drive on Internet Voting for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. The two-day event held on 25-26 October 2024 was participated in by personnel from the Philippine Embassies and Consulates General in the MEA region (Day 1), as well as by Filipino community and organization leaders based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Day 2).
The Abu Dhabi event is the sixth-leg (of eight) of the joint initiative to roll-out the online voting system which will be used in the May 2025 National and Local Elections, a first in the country’s electoral history.
“This will be the biggest change in further empowering our Overseas Filipinos thus far since Overseas Voting began in 2004. By enabling their right to vote through a more modern voting system, we further advance the most concrete and most compelling recognition of their contribution and influence in shaping not just our next set of leaders and governance for the next three years, but of our collective pursuit of nation-building,” said Philippine Ambassador to the UAE, H.E. Alfonso A. Ver.
Ambassador Ver and COMELEC Commissioner Marlon Casquejo engaged with the participants during the Open Forum segments of the two-day training and information drive for personnel of Philippine Embassies and Consulates General in the Middle East and Africa Region (Day 1), as well as Filipino community leaders and organizations based in Abu Dhabi, UAE (Day 2).
The Middle East region has historically seen some of the highest turn-out of overseas voters. In the 2022 Elections, Dubai topped the list of overseas voter turnout with Abu Dhabi coming in at fifth place. Combined, the Posts in the UAE had a total of turn-out of 97, 535 voters in 2022, which was the highest on a per-country scale.
“The protection and promotion of the rights and welfare of all our kababayan is the Third Pillar of Philippine Foreign Policy. With the global diaspora of our people, and through the exercise of their right to vote, the collective power of our Overseas Filipinos/ Overseas Filipino Workers could be tapped and further harnessed to be a significant and driving political force for the country,” Ambassador Ver added. “To make this endeavor truly work, all pillars must align: the first with the Government leading the positive change, the second securing the appropriate technology, and third the strong and active support of our community,” said Ambassador Ver.
Personnel from the eight (8) Philippine Embassies (PE) and Consulates General (PCG) participated in Day 1 of the said training:
● Abu Dhabi PE, UAE;
● Abuja PE;
● Damascus PE, Syria;
● Dubai PCG, UAE;
● Jeddah PCG, Saudi Arabia;
● Rabat PE;
● Riyadh PE, Saudi Arabia;
● Tel Aviv PE, Israel;
● Tripoli PE, Libya
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Participants actively participated during the actual demonstration of the online/ digital voter pre-enrolment and vote-testing processes of the new online voting system.