Comelec notes poor turnout of young voters
After five months of intensive media and barangay networking campaign, the turnout of first-time voters in Commission of Election offices in the province to register has been dismal.
Only 23,352 young voters (or 22%) registered out of an estimated 106,000 new voters in the province.
The estimate was based on the number of voters who registered for the 2007 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataaan Elections that totaled 118,520, all of whom were 15-17 years old.
Lawyer Reddy Balarbar, provincial election supervisor, said 90% of those who registered are now eligible to vote in 2010.
He had written to Board Member Kazel Celeste, president of the Sangguniang Kabataan Federation of Pangasinan, to apprise her of the low turnout among members of the SK.
With the low turn out of registrants for the 2010 elections in Pangasinan, Balarbar wondered if the young are interested to participate in the forthcoming polls at all.
“With the low turnout of registrants, the undersigned is beginning to wonder what is the youth sector doing? Are they not interested to participate in the forthcoming elections just like what they did in the 29 October 2007 BSKE wherein 106,587 youth voters participated for an astonishing 89.93 % turn out?” he asked the SK president.
Balarbar sought SK’s assistance to intensify its campaign among its members to register at the Commission on Elections field offices in their respective localities.
Registration is open from Monday to Saturday and will last up to October 31, 2009.
In response, Celeste promptly issued a memorandum to all Sangguniang Kabataan chairmen urging them to campaign for more registrants among their members.#
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
