11 April 2016 – The Philippine Embassy in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain opened its doors early today to start the overseas voting for the 2016 Automated National Elections as members of the Filipino community came early to exercise their right of suffrage, some arriving as early as 7AM.

Philippine Ambassador to Bahrain, Ambassador Alfonso A. Ver, the officers and staff of the Embassy serving in the various electoral boards, as well as accredited volunteers from the community, welcomed the early voters and asked them to join in the Embassy's Flag Ceremony to commemorate Araw ng Kagitingan.

Ambassador Ver likewise explained to the voters the process flow for the voting being conducted. Voters were advised to view the Certified List of Voters (CLOV) to verify if they are registered and were later on directed by volunteers to their appropriate precinct.

Since there are 18,497 registered voters in Bahrain, the Embassy has two (2) Special Board of Election Inspectors which are each assigned one Vote Counting Machine (VCM). Both SBEIs did not encounter any problems with their respective VCMs and voting went smoothly with no critical incidents reported save for a couple of voters who tried to take photos of their ballots but were nonetheless prevented from doing so.

Voter turnout was better than expected with over 400 voters casting their ballots on the first day.  It is hoped that this number can be sustained and increased throughout the thirty (30) day period in order to achieve above average voter turnout for overseas voting in Bahrain. END