Comelec begins printing of ballots for 2025 polls

/ 02:45 PM January 06, 2025

COMELEC PRINTING MACHINES / OCTOBER 26, 2024 Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Garcia and Comelec Commissioner Ernesto Maceda Jr. during the ceremonial turnover of the printing machines and printing of test ballots for the 2025 National and Local Elections at the NPO in Quezon City on Saturday, October 26, 2024. INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

COMELEC PRINTING MACHINES Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Garcia and Comelec Commissioner Ernesto Maceda Jr. attend the ceremonial turnover of the printing machines and printing of test ballots for the 2025 National and Local Elections at the NPO in Quezon City on Saturday, October 26, 2024. (INQUIRER file photo / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA)

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday began the printing of ballots for the upcoming midterm polls and first-ever parliamentary polls in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARRM) on May 12.

The process — observed by Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia, representatives of election watchdogs, and South Korean election service provider Miru — began at the National Printing Office in Quezon City.

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“For us in the Comelec, in the National Printing Office, and Miru, this is the point where we have no choice but to proceed with the elections,” Garcia said during the press conference after the official commencing of ballot printing.

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First to be printed on Monday will be the ballots for local and overseas absentee voters, which will only contain national candidates.

Only 66 senatorial aspirants from the initial 183 Certificates of Candidacy filers made it to the list, while the final list of party-list groups has been reduced to 155 after the Wage Hike party-list withdrew its bid for seats in the House of Representatives.

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Also on Monday, the ballots for the first-ever Bangsamoro polls will be printed, featuring 109 aspirants for 65 parliamentary district seats in the BARRM.

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“There is no more doubt that the Bangsamoro election will have to proceed,” Garcia said. “We are going to print today the Bangsamoro ballots.”

READ: No stopping BARMM polls preps despite reset calls

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BARRM voters will cast two ballots on Election Day — one for the parliamentary elections and another for the national polls.

Garcia said around 73 million ballots are expected to be printed, 68 million of which will be for registered voters nationwide, featuring candidates for local and national elections.

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More than two million ballots are for the Bangsamoro polls, around one million for test ballots, while the rest are for local and absentee voters.

Garcia reiterated that the Comelec will not print excess ballots.

TAGS: ballot printing, Philippine Elections

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