Comelec to proceed with mock elections on Jan. 25

Comelec headquarters in Intramuros, Manila. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will proceed with its mock elections and the reprinting of ballots on Saturday, January 25, its chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Wednesday.

“On Saturday, the mock elections will be held in several locations across the country. We have selected certain areas here as well as abroad,” Garcia said in an interview.

Garcia said last Wednesday that the mock elections would be rescheduled from their original January 18 date, after Comelec had to halt the printing of ballots after receiving the temporary restraining orders from the Supreme Court, that acted on the cases filed by five disqualified poll aspirants.

The poll body, which began printing ballots last January 6, printed approximately six million ballots already.

READ: Comelec: Ballot printing for 2025 polls set on Jan. 25

The reprinting of ballots was supposed to be done on Wednesday but the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court (SC) to the poll body reversing its declaration of senatorial aspirant Norman Mangusin, or popularly known as Francis Leo Marcos, as a nuisance candidate stalled its reschedule.

READ: Comelec lists approved areas for mock elections, no date set yet

“We will determine if the machines and batteries are working and the election paraphernalia are there before the sealing to be used on the day of the elections,” Garcia added.

The poll body chief noted that they will be using test ballots in the mock elections. He added that 10 original ballots per precinct will be used in the final testing and sealing, which is done one week before the elections.

The Comelec said that the names of Mangusin, and another senatorial aspirant, Subair Guinthum Mustapha, will now be included in the ballots.