MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is “confident” that it had met its target of at least three million new voters during the nationwide registration that ended Tuesday, an official said.

“We are confident that we have met the target of having at least three million new voters registered for the 2010 elections. Our offices have been deluged by applicants especially during the last month of registration. We are releasing the exact figures after we have received field reports from our election offices nationwide,” said Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal on Tuesday.

“The number of new voters does not only mean the youth voters but also those who have registered for the first time with the Commission,” said Larrazabal.

Surpassing the three-million mark for first-time voters became possible when the Comelec Election and Barangay (Village) Affairs Department approved the applications of 2.736 million registrants out of the total 45,487,634 voters during the Election Regulatory Board hearing on August, said Larrazabal.

The increase can be attributed to the high interest of Filipinos to join presidential elections and the heightened awareness on electoral participation especially using automated system, said Larrazabal, who presides over the steering committee on poll automation that oversees the functions of the project management office.

For future registration drives, Comelec intends to put more signs on the registration centers to guide voters and increase the number of data capturing machines for biometrics—as learned during the registration period.

In the 2007 elections, Comelec was able to register around two million new voters, said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez.

Comelec seeks to have between 46 million to 47 million voters in the 2010 polls, said Jimenez.