Bangsamoro polls: Many unaware of ‘none of the above’ option – Comelec

Commission on Elections Chairman George Erwin Garcia — INQUIRER.net / NOY MORCOSO

MANILA, Philippines — Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia has raised concerns over the “none of the above” option in the ballots for the first Bangsamoro Parliamentary elections, noting that many political party members and parliamentarians are unaware of the feature.

In an interview with reporters on Thursday, Garcia said he met with the seven political parties participating in the elections, along with some parliament members, to discuss the issues.

He added that the concerns are far more significant and alarming than the passage of the bill seeking to redistribute the seven seats originally allocated to Sulu province.

READ: ‘None of the above’ option in BARMM polls questioned

“It seems like it’s the first time they’re learning about it, and some members of the parliament even admitted to us that they didn’t know a ‘none of the above’ option had been included in the election code. They are now tracing where and how this ‘none of the above’ option was inserted,” Garcia said in Filipino.

The Bangsamoro electoral code includes a “none of the above” option on the ballots, alongside candidates’ images and political party logos.

Garcia earlier said that choosing this option signals a voter’s decision not to vote for any candidate.

He said that he then raised the following questions during the meeting: “What if ‘none of the above’ wins—can we still proclaim a candidate? At the same time, what are the implications of ‘none of the above’? Is ‘none of the above’ considered a candidate for each position?”

Garcia added that the political parties and some parliament members acknowledged the problem, noting that the feature had not been discussed at either the committee or plenary levels.

He also raised the issue of how the poll body will treat the “none of the above” option in the elections: Will it be considered a candidate? And if it receives the most votes, who will be proclaimed the winner?

The Independent Election Monitoring Center, an accredited Bangsamoro poll watchdog, earlier urged the Comelec and the parliament to clarify and resolve the issue, noting that the feature complicates the four-percent vote threshold required for political parties to qualify for the 40 party-list seats.

Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the 80-seat parliament is composed of 40 party-list representatives, 32 district representatives, and eight sectoral representatives.

The electoral code also states that only parties receiving at least four percent of the valid votes will be allocated seats from the 40-party list.

READ: Comelec: BARMM polls to proceed despite ballot printing postponement

Garcia said the poll body cannot remove the feature from the ballots, as it is mandated under the electoral code. He also said the Comelec has asked the parliament for comments by the end of the month before issuing a resolution on the matter.

“What we told the parliament is that no one can stop them if they want to amend the provision, especially on how the Comelec will treat the ‘none of the above’ option on election day,” he added.

Meanwhile, Garcia assured residents of the Bangsamoro region that the parliamentary elections will proceed “at all costs” on October 13.

This comes after the poll body suspended the printing of official ballots following the approval of a bill seeking to redistribute the seven seats originally allocated to Sulu.

The Comelec had initially planned to begin printing ballots for Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and the Special Geographic Area on Thursday. However, on Wednesday, it announced the suspension to “further study the implications of the approved bill.”

The Bangsamoro Transition Authority earlier announced the passage of Parliament Bill No. 351 on its third and final reading. The bill seeks to amend the Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 58 and redistribute the seven district seats originally dedicated to Sulu.

In September 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that Sulu was no longer part of the Bangsamoro region after the province rejected the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law in a plebiscite./mcm