Comelec urged to extend registration deadline

A legislator has asked Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairwoman Harriet Demetriou to extend the deadline for registration of new voters from tomorrow to February next year.

Party-list Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales (Akbayan) told reporters yesterday the government was not able to fully inform new voters belonging to the 18 to 21 age bracket of the registration deadline because of President Estrada’s impeachment trial.

"Let the first time voters be heard," she said. "Many of them are not fully aware that there is an ongoing national campaign to register for the coming May 2001 elections."

Demetriou earlier decided to discontinue a P6.5-billion project known as Voter Registration and Identification System (VRIS) for lack of funds.

The VRIS project called for the computerization of voter registration nationwide to avoid fraud and other irregularities during elections.

Rosales said the Comelec can carry out the information campaign with the help of the vast network of non-government organizations, the National Movement for Free Elections, the public school system, and Church-based organizations.

"By the year 2001, the youth will make up 60 percent of the whole voting population," she said. "Many of these new voters want leaders who are accountable to their constituents."

Rosales said many new voters may be disenfranchised because of government’s failure to properly inform them about the need for them to register.

"We’re talking here of youth tired of traditional politics, who want meaningful reforms in our system of governance," she said. "They must be given the voice through their votes but the situation now is that they stand to be disenfranchised because of the failure of government to inform them about this." – Romel Bagares