Polling hours in Jeddah extended

MANILA, Philippines – Polling hours in Jeddah will be extended from eight to nine hours in order to make up for the delay in the absentee voting there, Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes said.

Comelec canceled the elections in Jeddah, where there are over 30,000 voters, after election paraphernalia were not released on time by Customs.

The elections in Jeddah will instead begin on April 16.

“What we resolved is that we’re going to add one hour per day starting the 16th to cover for the deficiencies on the first day,” Brillantes said in an interview on ANC.

“So the Jeddah voting in Saudi Arabia, we expect on the 16th, but we will have a nine-hour voting instead of eight hours,” he added.

Overseas absentee voting will be until May 13.

Brillantes, who flew to Hong Kong to oversee the absentee voting, said only 536 came to vote there on Saturday.

But the poll chief expects turnout to increase as voting moves closer to the last day.

“Those that go (to vote) usually come in on a weekend, Saturdays and Sundays,” Brillantes explained. “Here in particular in Hong Kong, it’s really Sunday because they have work here, half days on Saturdays.”

“The big turnout usually comes in on Sunday,” he added. – Reports from ANC and Jasmine Romero, ABS-CBN News