Marcos camp wants to halt unofficial count

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of vice presidential aspirant Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Tuesday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting to stop its unofficial count of votes in the 2016 elections.

The Marcos camp cited glitches in canvassing as the partial unofficial tally is inconsistent with their exit polls.

READ: Rody Duterte, Bongbong Marcos top SWS partial exit poll

"It is unfortunate that while the whole country was asleep the glitch in the canvassing occurred and from then on we saw a progression of so-called 'updates' that showed an alarming and suspicious trend reducing our lead contrary to the results of independent exit polls and our own internal surveys," Marcos campaign adviser Abakada Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz said in a statement.

As of writing time, the unofficial count is over 90 percent complete.

Dela Cruz added that the unofficial count is not designed to be completed as it would lead to confusion and conflict with the official tally.

The senator's campaign adviser, however, said that the senator would emerge victorious if the unofficial count continues.

Marcos is still in a tight race with Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo for the vice presidency, according to the latest Comelec partial and unofficial tally.

As of 4:20 p.m., Robredo is leading the vice presidential race with 13,592,608 votes while Marcos ranks second with 13,383,517 votes.

Robredo, however, said that she will wait for the official counts before claiming victory despite her lead in unofficial tallies.