SEOUL, 10 May 2016 - A quarter of all Filipino registered voters cast their ballots on Monday, 9 May 2016 at the end of the 31-day voting period set aside for the overseas polls for the 2016 national elections in South Korea, the Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEI) at the Philippine Embassy in Seoul said.

By the time polls closed at 6pm on Monday (5pm in Manila) in the polling station in the Embassy Chancery in Yongsan-gu district in Seoul, 3,473 Filipino residents of Korea exercised their right of suffrage, accounting for 24.61 percent of 14,112 voters registered in Korea. This is the highest turnout in 12 years.

According to available data, the record voter turnout was made in the inaugural overseas absentee voting exercise in 2004, with 419 or 47.72 pc out of 878 registrants voted. In 2007, the total voters were 565 but there is no record of the total registrants. The figures for 2010 and 2013, respectively, were 1.298 out of 10,922 (11.33 pc), and 428 out of 13,934 (3.07 pc).

Of this total 14,112 voters this year, 3,131 did so by personal voting, while 292 did so in field voting missions to Busan and Daegu on April 23-24 and April 29-30, respectively.

"I am happy overseas Filipinos living in Korea came out in the highest absolute numbers, the biggest thus far in this country since overseas absentee voting privileges were extended in the 2004 presidential elections," said Philippine Ambassador to Korea Raul S. Hernandez. "It's clear our people heeded our call to get involved, participate and vote in these polls."

Ambassador Hernandez, who chaired the Special Board of Canvassers (SBOC) in South Korea, said it was the first time ever that the Embassy here recorded more than one precinct. With the total number of registrants, including seafarers, South Korea had 15 precincts of 1,000 registrants each, only five of which were activated based on the actual turnout.

South Korea was one of 17 overseas posts, including four in Asia, which adopted a mixed voting system, combining personal and postal voting. Seoul was also one of 30 cities using an automated Smartmatic Vote Counting Machine (VCM), which was shut down after the polls closed at 6pm, in the presence of local election watchers.

Under the two different options of postal voting or field voting, Filipino registered voters were able to send their accomplished official ballots by mail to the Embassy, or hand them to a field voting team to Busan and Daegu, which were approved by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).

According to SBEI Chair, Vice Consul Ella Karina Mitra, the printing of electoral returns using the VCM started at 7pm on Monday, 9 May 2016, and ended shortly before midnight of the same day.

The SBOC Chair, Ambassador Hernandez, conducted the canvassing of all 15 SD cards containing the results of 15 precincts, including four for personal voting and one for field and postal voting at midnight, and concluded the SBOC's work just past 3am.
The Special Ballot Reception and Custody Group (SBRCG) finished its work, including the disposal of unused ballots and accounting of all election paraphernalia for its return delivery by courier to the COMELEC in Manila at 4:30am, thus concluding the overseas voting duties of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul in 10 hours 30 minutes from the closure of polls.

"There was consistency between the election returns and the results of the canvassing, and the process has been smooth, with only minor glitches," said Rev. Frank Hernando, an accredited poll watcher in South Korea for party list group Migrante, describing the wait before a response could be received from inquiries by the SBOC staff to the Overseas Voting Secretariat in Manila.

He commended the staff and all persons involved for being "cooperative, patient and hardworking."

Migrante's second poll watcher, Rev. Gloria dela Cruz-Hernando said: "This was our first time to utilize the automated vote count, so it was expected that there would be some delays." Both Migrante poll watchers have performed similar duties in the past three elections starting from 2007.

Media poll watcher Genevie "Gennie" Kim, the Filipino-Korean DJ of the Multicultural Family Music Broadcast of Seoul-based Digital Radio KISS and Woongjin Foundation, observed the conduct of the polls several times from 9 April 2016 and the printing of the election returns on Election Day. She expressed excitement at being able to exercise her right to vote for the first time.

"All of the Philippine Embassy Seoul officials gave their time for one month straight in the service of all Filipinos working here n South Korea," she added.

The total number of 14,112 registered overseas Filipino voters in South Korea make the Embassy of the Philippines in Seoul 5th among the embassies and consulates general in Asia in terms of number of registered voters.