The Commission on Elections has approved a proposal for Internet voting for the Filipino community in Singapore, reports bared yesterday.

Commissioner Florentino Tuason, chairman of Comelec's Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting, said the committee picked Singapore as the pilot country for Internet voting because there are 26,000 registered overseas Filipino voters there.

"The reason why we chose Singapore is according to our supplier and our own assessment, it's easy for them to educate, first through the Web site, then by training," Tuason said in an interview.

Tuason said before the May 14 mid-term elections, Filipinos, through local newspapers and Filipino groups in Singapore, will be educated on Internet voting.

The commissioner said that Comelec will provide a online microsite for Internet voting. He said as soon as the site is opened by the voter, an instructional video will automatically pop up.

Each overseas voter will be asked to key in his or her personal details to get a PIN (personal identification number) code.

After encoding the right PIN code, names of the candidates, with their pictures and affiliations, will be shown to the voter.

After casting their votes, every voter will be given a printed receipt, proof that their votes have been registered to Comelec's database.

Tuason assured that the system, to be provided by Hewlett-Packard's subsidiary Scytl.com., has safeguards against cheating.

The commissioner said that if Internet voting in Singapore is proven successful, the same system will be introduced to other counties with Filipino communities in the 2010 elections.