DFA gears up overseas internet voting for 2025 polls

By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora, Philippine News Agency

ONLINE VOTING. DFA-OVS chairperson Undersecretary Jesus Domingo during the online voting and counting system (OVCS) training and internet voting information drive in Barcelona, Spain in this undated photo. The Department of Foreign Affairs said preparations are ongoing for the implementation of online voting for overseas Filipinos for the upcoming 2025 national elections. (Photo courtesy of DFA-OVS via PNA)

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said preparations are ongoing for the implementation of online voting for overseas Filipinos for the upcoming 2025 national elections.

In a statement Friday, the DFA said its Overseas Voting Secretariat (OVS) and the Commission on Elections-Office for Overseas Voting (Comelec-OFOV) have so far conducted training and information drives in South Korea, Spain, Hong Kong SAR, and Singapore.

“DFA-OVS fully supports Comelec with this additional new mode of voting that will not only encourage our Kababayans abroad to exercise their right of suffrage but will also make the electoral process easier and more convenient for them,” DFA Undersecretary and OVS Chairperson Jesus Domingo said.

“Information campaigns on internet voting will also play a vital role in the success of it. The secretariat is committed and ready to assist Comelec through our Foreign Service Posts in this regard,” he added.

Similar trainings are scheduled in San Francisco, California in September, Prague in Czech Republic, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in October, Vancouver in Canada this November, and Doha, Qatar soon.

“If internet voting for overseas Filipinos proves to be successful, we can use it domestically for our senior citizens, persons with disability and pregnant women,” Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said.

A total of 76 foreign service posts including the Manila Economic Cultural Offices (MECOs) and Mission will conduct internet voting for the 2025 polls.

The deadline for overseas voter registration is Sept. 30, 2024.