Voter turnout dips to 15.10% in Online Overseas Elections in Italy

By Jackie de Vega

Screencap from video, May 3, 2025

ROME — The 2025 Philippine midterm elections saw a sharp decline in voter turnout among overseas Filipinos in Italy, Albania, Malta & San Marino raising concerns about political disengagement and the effectiveness of current voting systems abroad.

According to official data from the Philippine Embassy in Italy, only 5,950 out of 39,415 registered overseas voters in its jurisdiction cast their votes during the online voting period, which ran from April 13 to May 12. This translates to a turnout rate of just 15.10%, a steep drop from the 44.53% turnout (16,866 out of 37,874) recorded in the 2022 national elections.

Senatorial Preferences Abroad

Despite the low turnout, votes from Italy, Albania, Malta, and San Marino were successfully transmitted and included in the national tally.

The top 12 senatorial candidates who received the highest number of votes from these countries were:

Bong Go

Bato Dela Rosa

Rodante Marcoleta

Jimmy Bondoc

Atty. Vic Rodriguez

Bam Aquino

Kiko Pangilinan

Raul Lambino

Jayvee Hinlo

Ping Lacson

Tito Sotto

Heidi Mendoza

Other notable names that received significant votes include Doc Marites Mata, Phillip “Ipe” Salvador, and Apollo Quiboloy.

Top Party-List Choices

In the party-list race, five groups emerged as the top choices among voters in the four countries:

Duterte Youth

ML

Epanaw Sambayanan

Akbayan

CIBAC

Low Participation Raises Questions on Online Voting

Screencap from video, May 3, 2025

The sharp decline in voter turnout has sparked concerns about the accessibility and effectiveness of online voting as mode of voting among overseas Filipinos.

While the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) now implements online voting for all overseas jurisdictions - including Italy, Albania, Malta, and San Marino- the turnout suggests that technology alone may not be enough to drive participation.

One overseas voter, Aldreyn Tuazon, 31 years old, hotel receptionist, participated in the first-ever online voting system for overseas Filipinos, welcomed the shift to digital voting but shared mixed sentiments.

He said that he was glad to see many “millennials at Gen Z” participating in the national elections, but expressed disappointment over the low turnout among overseas voters. He pointed to registration difficulties and weak information campaigns as major barriers.

“Maliit ang oras para sa advisories… karamihan din ay hindi nakapagrehistro at hindi interesado bumoto dahil mga senador naman lang daw ang mga iboboto,” (Advisories were sent on short notice…most were not able to register and some were not interested to vote as one can only vote for senators),” he added.

Tuazon added further that, "sana paigtingin pa ang information dissemination lalo na sa mga kabataan. (I hope that the information dissemination will be intensified especially to the youth.)"

Despite the convenience that online voting is meant to provide, the low voter turnout in Italy showed that it will take more than convenience to convince overseas Filipinos to vote.

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