Comelec: No more partial proclamation of winning senators

MANILA, Philippines – Unlike in the 2013 elections, there will be no partial proclamation of winning senatorial candidates in this year’s polls, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said the poll body decided to finish the counting and canvassing before proclaiming the 12 new senators because partial proclamation could invite doubts among the public and would be unfair to those lagging behind in the senatorial race. 

According to Commissioner Luie Guia, six senators were proclaimed three days after the 2013 midterm polls. The rest were proclaimed “on the 6th or 7th day.” 

“You would not know the winner on May 9 because the process takes several levels of canvassing,” he added.  

Meanwhile, Commissioner Sheriff Abas said yesterday that the poll body would inspect the official ballots for seven towns in Sulu because these reportedly got wet by rains during shipment.

“We got a report that the outer layer of the official ballots got wet while being delivered to Sulu. We discussed this during the en banc and the recommendation was to have it opened and checked,” he said.

The inspection of ballots will be done in the presence of political parties and other stakeholders.

If the ballots were damaged, the Comelec will reprint new ballots. 

Abas said the Comelec is hoping that the ballots are not damaged because the ballots are fully sealed with three layers of protection.