Overseas Absentee Voting and

Philippine Elections
Presentation outline
Political Action
Migrant Transnational Political Activities
Voting Turnout Factors
Factors Affecting in Absentia Voting
OAV: The Philippine Case
OAVs as Agents of Change?
Lessons and Implications for the Next
Administration
Forms of Political Action
Voting as the most ubiquitous and yet
highly diffused mode
Political campaigning and party work
Lobbying and contacting
representatives
Community organizing
Protest politics (e.g., rallies /
demonstrations, petitions, and strikes)
Some Determinants of Political Action
Structural resources and capacities (e.g.,
educational qualifications, income,
occupational status, sex, age, and ethnicity)
Cultural attitudes
People are more likely to participate if they
feel informed, efficacious, and consider
themselves as stakeholders
Institutional and administrative contexts (e.g.,
electoral procedures, citizenship acquisition
principles, and affiliations with mobilizing
agencies)
Rational actor models
Migrant Transnational Political Activities
Traditional international migration is
circumscribed by distinctions between
“temporary” and “permanent” migrants.
These notions are no longer an essential part
of the transnational equation.
Transnational political activities are the varied
forms of political action that transcend
national political boundaries.
Migrant transnational political activities are
the actions taken by migrants to directly and
indirectly participate in the politics of their
country of origin even as they also take part in
the political institutions and processes of their
current country of residence.
Structural Factors that Affect Voter Turnout
Administrative and legal concerns (e.g., the
registration process, voter registration
requirements, voting age, compulsory
voting)
Nature of the electoral system (e.g.,
frequency of elections, plurality or
majoritarian, etc.)
Nature of the party system
Prevailing political culture
Level of socio-economic development
Size of the population
Extent of electoral competition and choice
Non-residential Voting:
The New Default Mode
Conventional political thinking is to
disenfranchise non-residents
Today, 115 countries allow external voting
External voting for members of legislative
assembly, the chief executive, and the
conduct of political referenda
Emigrants are now seen as a unique sector
to positively influence politics in the
homeland
Factors Affecting Voting in Absentia
Structural electoral factors (The Usual
Suspects)
Emigrant political participation is negotiated
Length and status of stay in the country of
destination
Emigration intention (e.g., permanent or
temporary)
Mode of emigration (e.g., political refugees
and economic migrants)
Existence of an emigrant community
The politics in the state of the sending country
OAV: The Philippine Case
OAV introduced in 2003 along with the
Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition
Law
Acknowledges the contributions of Filipinos
overseas
An attempt to broaden the power base of
marginalized sectors and institutions
Represents a challenge to the conventional
“national” political discourse
The Philippine OAV Experience
230,000 voted in 2004
81,000 voted in 2007
589,000 voters for May 2010

Administrative concerns (e.g., delayed

implementation, required personal registration,
limited polling places)
Geographical and financial concerns
Trends: OAV turnout is always lower
Emigrants as Agents of Change?

Modern-day heroes
Responsible citizens in developed
polities
Able to resist bribes
Not susceptible to intimidation
Intelligent political agents
Over-emphasizing Agency?
Weak attachments to national
institutions relative to local
institutions
Unkept promise of return /
rootlessness
Migration for employment / politics
avoidance
Loose cannon effect
OAV Lessons and Implications for the
Next Administration
Reversing the trends of 2004 and 2007?
Costly political exercise but not atypical
“High” numbers but not consolidated
Need to build an effective political
constituency
Importance of deterritorialized politics
Structure also a factor