Brgy poll’s delays tagged for low voters turnout

COMELEC officials in Cebu cited the postponements of the holding of the barangay elections as one of the reasons for the low turnout in last May’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Commission on Elections Provincial Election Officer, said he was not expecting fewer voters to participate in the May 14 elections.

Castillano was referring to the 77.74 percent voters turnout or only about 2,158,072 out of 2,887,455 registered voters, who cast their votes in this year’s election.

This is lower than the 85 percent voters turnout during the 2016 elections.

However, he said the postponement of the barangay elections twice could be a contributing factor why only few voters participated during the election.

“Maybe, when the election was approaching, there were still reports that it would not take place. And this could have been the reason why some were not able to return home to vote,” said Castillano.

Lawyer Gallardo Escobar, Talisay City election officer, for his part, cited voters not really knowing the candidate as a reason for not participating in the polls.

Escobar also said that there were also others who had no intention to participate in the elections and who only used their Comelec voters registration for their work requirements.

Castillano said he would meet with the election officers to discuss solutions to address this issue.