The Philippine Embassy in Oslo is moving mountains to get Filipino residents to register for the Overseas Absentee Voting for the forthcoming 2010 national elections.
 
Consul General Evelyn Garcia-Austria said the embassy is now doing all it can to get more Filipinos to register. 
 
“Everytime I meet with Filipino leaders, I encourage them to announce to their members that the registration is on-going and that it will be open until the 31st of August,” she said.
 
Besides appealing to the Filipino leaders for help, she also said the embassy is going to have announcements at religious services in Philippine communities, conduct registration in consular outreaches, and even conduct “akyat-barko” if necessary for the OAV registration.
 
The embassy had even offered to conduct registration during community gatherings, if there are sufficient numbers of registrants in the events.
 
“If Mohammad cannot go to the mountain, then the mountain will go to Mohammad,” Ambassador Elizabeth Buensuceso quipped.
 
The embassy expects about 350-400 Filipinos to register for the elections in Norway alone. Only Filipino residents with valid passports are allowed to register since Norway does not allow dual citizenships. So far, 24 voters had registered. 
 
Norway has the biggest number of sea-based workers in Norwegian ships. The Norwegian Shipowners Association estimates this number at about 17,000.