Only 32 percent of registered voters overseas had cast their votes as of 10 a.m. Monday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.
Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said the poll body still hoped this would rise to 40 percent by the end of the day, with the addition of mail-in ballots that have not been counted.
The Comelec said 1,697,215 overseas Filipinos registered for the 2022 elections: 786,997 in the Middle East and African countries, 450,282 in the Asia Pacific, 306,445 in North and Latin America, and 153,491 from Europe.
Casquejo earlier said the Comelec’s new “vote anywhere” policy and field voting as reasons for an expected improvement in the turnout among overseas voters this year.
Overseas voting for the 2022 polls started on April 10 and will end on May 9.
A total of 92 Philippine posts held overseas voting activities, using a combination of postal and in-person voting.
A total of 127 registered voters in four Philippine posts were unable to cast their votes as the Comelec ordered the suspension of voting there.
These are in the Philippine posts of Baghdad, Tripoli, Islamabad, and Warsaw, which cover the countries of Iraq, Algeria, Chad, Tunisia, Libya, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.