THE TOTAL number of votes in the May 12 National and Local Elections yielded a record 82.20% final voter turnout, the Commission on Elections said on Friday, May 16.
Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia said this is the highest record so far of all the mid-term elections in the country’s history.
“Ang buong komisyon ay nagulat, inaasahan naman nating dadagsa, pero yung halos ma-reach yung presidential elections noon 2022,” Garcia said in a press conference in The Manila Hotel.
“Talaga naman pong historic, nag-uumapaw ang kaligayahan ng Comelec sa pinakita ng mga kababayan natin,” Garcia added.
For the mid-term elections, the number of registered voters, local absentee voters, and registered overseas voters reached 69,673,653. Of this number, 57,350,968 have cast their votes, representing 82.20%.
Compared to the 2019 mid-term elections, this is way higher, as the Comelec only recorded around 75% voter turnout.
This number comes second to the 2022 presidential polls, which saw 84.2%, representing 55,431,939 out of 65,831,806 registered voters.
Garcia said the turnout can be attributed to the current issues that challenged the youth to participate in the elections.
“Palagay ko po yung challenge sa mga kabataan lagi na kung gusto niyo ng magandang kinabukasan, bumoto kayo. Yung challenge natin sa mga nakatatanda, sabi niyo nag fail na kayo nung nakaraan edi ayusin natin ngayon, ito yung tamang pagkakataon,” he said.
“Yung maging part ka ng magandang simula ay that is the biggest factor that they wanted to be a part of something good for our country,” he added.
