‘81.65% voter turnout highest for midterm polls’

MANILA, Philippines —  Over 55 million voters trooped to polling precincts to cast their votes last Monday, the highest ever recorded in the country for a midterm electoral exercise, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“The number of voters who actually voted reached 81.65 percent out of the over 68 million registered voters, the highest in the history of midterm elections,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said yesterday.

“We’re happy because even if it’s just midterm elections, such a large number of registered voters actually voted,” he said.

Voter turnout during midterm elections is usually low, hitting just around 70 percent for instance in 2019.

But last Monday’s voter turnout, he said, is just shy of the 82 percent recorded during the 2022 presidential elections.

The poll chief attributed the high voter turnout to the huge number of young people who opted to cast their votes.

He also noted a huge number of elderly voters in the first two hours of early voting, Garcia said. Three million senior citizens showed up at polling precincts last Monday.

“Across ages, voters rose in number, but I really believe votes of the youth matter. They really came in droves,” he pointed out.

He also credited the Comelec’s visibility – from the time of voter registration to election day – for the surge in voter turnout.

“We were everywhere. We raised the discourse on vote buying, we urged the youth, and maybe they got challenged by our kakulitan (stubbornness),” Garcia said.

“I believe that if given the proper perspective on issues, voters will go to precincts,” he said.

Garcia also revealed that he was not surprised by the marked disparity between pre-election surveys and actual election results.

He said that while surveys follow scientific methodology, some factors may not have been included or factored in by pollsters.

“I’m not saying that you should not rely on surveys, but what I am saying is surveys are not an election per se,” he stressed.

The Comelec wants to regulate election surveys to protect voters as well as candidates from fly-by-night firms that seek to manipulate public perception through misleading survey results.

Meanwhile, Senate President Francis Escudero said the outcome of the recently concluded midterm elections was based on issues that confronted the country’s political personalities, at least based on the names in the Senate “Magic 12” race.

At the Kapihan sa Senado forum yesterday, Escudero cited the arrest and turnover to The Hague of former president Rodrigo Duterte as a key campaign issue that made Duterte allies Ronald dela Rosa, Bong Go, Rodante Marcoleta and Imee Marcos win the Senate race.

Another factor was the youth vote that propelled the comeback bid of former vice president Leni Robredo’s allies, Francis Pangilinan and Bam Aquino, who campaigned on a promise of better education and food sufficiency.

“More than strategy, more than machinery, issues – and the events that happened before the vote – dictated the result of this election. And in that sense, it is a positive thing to have an issue-based elections,” Escudero said.

“It was not based on advertisements, or machinery, or money, but it was based on each candidate’s position on issues that confronted the voter. That is what dictated the results of the elections,” he added.

Escudero however cautioned against branding the election as a battle between the administration of President Marcos and the Dutertes.