Of the three hundred fifty nine thousand two hundred ninety seven (359,297) registered and approved overseas absentee voters, two hundred thirty three thousand ninety two (233, 092) or sixty five per cent (65%) voted in the recently concluded 10 May 2004 National and Local Elections. This is a considerable turn-out under the circumstances and by and large, a reflection of a national turn-out of voters of previous national elections.       The Philippine Embassy in Havana in Cuba was the first Post to terminate its counting and canvassing of ten (10) votes while it took the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong almost one hundred (100) hours or almost four (4) days as each Special Board of Election Inspector (SBEI) counted more than eight hundred (800) ballots.       Canvassing was the longest in the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, six (6) days, where the election returns coming from Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Al- Khobar had to be accounted for.       The Posts which registered the highest number of votes are the following: Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong Philippine Embassy in Singapore Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Al-Khobar Philippine Embassy in Kuwait Philippine Embassy in Brunei Philippine Consulate General in Milan Philippine Embassy in Saipan Philippine Embassy in Athens Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Dubai       Geographically, the Asia-Pacific and Middle East countries posted the highest number of overseas absentee voters compared to American and European countries. If not for the security problems in the Middle East which plagued the region during the voting period, voter turn-out would have been heavier.       In terms of voter turn-out, the Posts reported high turn-out on weekends in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Americas. In the Middle-East countries, voters came mostly on Thursdays and Fridays which were considered weekend by most Muslim on account of their religious practices.       In countries where voting by mail was adopted, turn-out of voters wan only forty eight per cent (48%). Factors that affected the voter turn-out were mails returned to sender due to insufficient addresses provided by the voter and postal strike, particularly in the United Kingdom. In some instances, mails intended for a particular Post were misrouted to the COAV.       The following statistical data is the breakdown of the actual number of voters in the Posts.   Total Number of Registered Voters who Actually Voted Seq. No. Country Post Number of Voters Per Post Total Number of Voters in the Country Total Number of Voters who actually voted Percentage Turn-out 1 AUSTRALIA PCG SYDNEY 133 286 166 58% AUSTRALIA PE CANBERRA 153 2 BANGKADESH PE DHAKA 175 175 126 72% 3 SRI LANKA PE DHAKA 202 202 98 49% 4 BRUNEI PE BANDAR SERI 9,599 9,599 6,413 67% 5 CAMBODIA PE PNOM PEHN 388 388 315 81% 6 CHINA PCG GUANGZHOU 162 712 507 71% CHINA PCG SHANGHAI 203 CHINA PCG XIAMEN 99 CHINA PE BEIJING 248 7 HONGKONG PE HONGKONG 88,363 89,903 64,040 71% MACAU LABOR OFFICE 1,540 8 INDIA PE NEW DELHI 42 42 38 90% 9 INDONESIA PCG MANADO 96 703 447 64% INDONESIA PE JAKARTA 607 10 LAOS PE VIENTIANE 109 109 71 65% 11 MALAYSIA PE KUALA LUMPUR 2,603 2,603 1,998 77% 12 MYANMAR PE YANGON 99 99 86 87% 13 NEW ZEALAND PE WELLINGTON 57 57 34 60% 14 PAKISTAN PE ISLAMABAD 73 73 64 88% 15 AFGHANISTAN PE ISLAMABAD 1 1 0 0% 16 PALAU PE KOROR 2,583 2,583 1,627 63% 17 PAPUA NEW GUINEA PE PORT MORESBY 867 867 648 75% 18 SINGAPORE PE SINGAPORE 23,955 23,955 18,450 77% 19 SOUTH KOREA PE SEOUL 877 877 419 48% 20 TAIWAN MECO-KAOHSIUNG 3,330 11,609 6,024 52% TAIWAN MECO-TAICHUNG 1,597 TAIWAN MECO-TAIPEI 6,682 21 THAILAND PE BANGKOK 995 995 744 75% 22 VIETNAM PE HANOI 341 341 274 80% 23 BAHRAIN PE MANAMA 4,294 4,294 2,933 68% 24 EGYPT PE CAIRO 686 686 539 79% 25 IRAN PE TEHRAN 267 267 199 75% 26 IRAQ PE BAGHDAD 100 100 38 38% 27 ISRAEL PE TEL-AVIV 1,970 1,970 702 36% 28 JORDAN PE AMMAN 1,074 1,074 773 72% 29 KENYA PE NAIROBI 91 91 64 70% 30 UGANDA PE NAIROBI 1 1 0 0% 31 LEBANON PE BEIRUT 2,400 2,400 1,759 73% 32 LIBYA PE TRIPOLI 1,527 1,527 1,114 73% 33 MALI PE TRIPOLI 1 1 0 0% 34 NIGERIA PE ABUJA 705 705 480 68% 34 SENEGAL PE ABUJA 1 1 0 0% 36 OMAN PE MUSCAT 2,766 2,766 2,305 83% 37 SOUTH AFRICA PE PRETORIA 41 41 12 29% 38 BOTSWANA PE PRETORIA 46 46 0 0% 39 MOZAMBIQUE PE PRETORIA 37 37 0 0% 40 KUWAIT PE KUWAIT 14,277 14,277 9,805 69% 41 QATAR PE DOHA 6,214 6,214 3,983 64% 42 SAUDI ARABIA PE JEDDAH 32,998 97,014 58,663 60% SAUDI ARABIA PE RIYADH 45,798 SAUDI ARABIA AL KHOBAR 18,218 43 YEMEN PE RIYADH 1 1 0 0% 44 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES PE ABU DHABI 15,483 20,876 11,672 56% UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DUBAI 5,393 45 ARGENTINA PE BUENOS AIRES 28 28 24 86% 46 PARAGUAY PE BUENOS AIRES 1 1 0 0% 47 BRAZIL PE BRASILIA 41 41 33 80% 48 CHILE PE SANTIAGO 57 57 10 18% 49 CUBA PE HAVANA 14 14 10 71% 50 MEXICO PE MEXICO 39 39 26 67% 51 USA PE WASHINGTON 544 3,537 1,730 49% USA PCG SAN FRANCISCO 855 USA PCG HONOLULU 118 USA PCG LOS ANGELES 301 USA PCG CHICAGO 696 USA PG NEW YORK 819 GUAM PE AGANA 204 52 VENEZUELA PE CARACAS 27 27 19 70% 53 CNMI PCG SAIPAN 7,003 7,003 4,740 68% 54 AUSTRIA PE VIENNA 195 195 142 73% 55 BELGIUM PE BRUSSELS 1,026 1,026 798 78% 56 CZECH REPUBLIC PE PRAGUE 29 29 27 93% 57 FRANCE PE PARIS 1,369 1,369 839 61% 58 PORTUGAL PE PARIS 1 1 0 0% 59 GERMANY PE BERLIN 158 439 224 51% GERMANY BONN EXTN. OFFICE 211 GERMANY PCG HAMBURG 70 60 HUNGARY PE BUDAPEST 30 30 26 87% 61 NETHERLAND PE THE HAGUE 541 541 224 41% 62 ROMANIA PE BUCHAREST 36 36 24 67% 63 RUSSIA PE MOSCOW 28 28 23 82% 64 SPAIN PE MADRID 1,251 1,251 649 52% 65 SWEDEN PE STOCKHOLM 223 223 43 19% 66 NORWAY PE STOCKHOLM 3 3 0 0% 67 SWITZERLAND PE BERNE 129 816 693 85% SWITZERLAND PHIL. MISSION TO GENEVA 687 68 TURKEY PE ANKARA 135 135 106 79% 69 VATICAN PE VATICAN 673 22,500 14,323 50% ITALY PE ROME 14,595 ITALY PCG MILAN 7,232 70 GREECE PE ATHENS 5,690 5,690 4,758 84% 71 JAPAN PCG OSAKA 3,201 9,366 4,120 44% JAPAN PE TOKYO 6,165 72 UNITED KINGDOM PE LONDON 2,883 2,883 1,121 39% 73 IRELAND PE LONDON 212 212 83 39% 74 CANADA PCG VANCOUVER 424 1,209 647 54% CANADA PE OTTAWA 51 CANADA PCG TORONTO 734 TOTAL 359,297 359,297 233,092 65%

Part III

Part V