Voter turn-out for the second day of overseas absentee voting (OAV) in Hong Kong and Singapore was still low, said the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said based on the information he got from Commissioner Armando Velasco, who heads the Comelec committee on overseas voting, only 2,500 voters were able to cast their vote yesterday in the said countries where the system of voting was automated.

Velasco, who is currently in Singapore, is the head of the Comelec’s committee on OAV.

He said this number is still low considering that there are more than 95,000 registered voters in Hong Kong and some 31,000 plus voters in Singapore.

“But I think the number is still reasonable since they can still vote until May 10,” said Sarmiento.

Another possible factor for the low turn-out, he said, is the last-minute attitude of Filipinos.

“That might also be a factor. But I think the number will pick up in the coming days,” said Sarmiento.

Aside from the low turn-out, he said, several Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) glitches were also reported in Hong Kong.

“The PCOS machine encountered a problem but it was immediately remedied because they used the spare unit," Sarmiento said.

On Saturday, the first day of the OAV for the May 10 polls, only a small percentage of the 589,830 registered Filipinos abroad came out and voted.

Specifically, the automated election system in Hong Kong and Singapore only came up with some 1,200 voters out of their estimated 120,000 registered voters.

Aside from the automated system being implemented in Singapore and Hong Kong, some 46 embassies and consulates-general are set to use the postal voting while another 45 foreign posts will utilize personal voting.

Voting period for OAV, where voters will select a president, a vice president, 12 senators, and a party-list organization, is set to run up to May 10.

Meanwhile, more than 4,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) already cast their ballots for this year's OAV, with Filipinos in Hong Kong garnering the highest number of voters in the first day of the conduct of the month-long election catered for Filipino migrants and Filipino migrant workers.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs-Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat (DFA-OAVS), there are already some 4,141 Filipino overseas absentee voters who have cast their ballots after the first day of voting in the 93 Philippine Embassies and Consulates-General around the world.