Comelec eyes proclaiming all BARMM poll winners 2 days after elections

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is targeting to proclaim all winners of the first Bangsamoro parliamentary elections within two days after the elections, its chair, George Erwin Garcia said on Wednesday.

Garcia said that the poll body may proclaim winners of representatives among the 32 parliamentary districts in the region by the evening of election day. The elections will be held on September 14, 2026 after being postponed four times already.

“So, for at least two days, we can proclaim all elected leaders in Bangsamoro so they can elect their chief minister,” Garcia said in a Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.

READ: Comelec ready for BARMM polls, BSKE, says Garcia

The first parliamentary elections will fill the 80-seat parliament, of which 40 seats are allotted for political parties, 32 seats for district representatives, and eight for sectoral organizations.

Garcia stressed the importance of early and swift proclamation of winners, given the nature of the automated elections. He said that if the elections are done manually, the transmission of results may take days, especially if they come from far-flung areas.

“Once we know the results for the parliamentary districts by that night, or we determine by the next day who will have control of the political parties, more or less, we will know who the chief minister will be. The chief minister will be chosen by the parliament based on majority vote,” Garcia added.

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Election preparations

As the parliamentary elections will be automated, Garcia shared that they will lease automated counting machines (ACMs) from the same provider in the May 2025 elections, the Miru Systems. However, he clarified that the poll body will not use the machines that were already deployed in the last elections.

He added that they will need at least 6,500 ACMs as there are 5,212 districts in the region, with at least 1,000 machines for backup.

Aside from this, Garcia said that the Comelec will secure a new international certification because of the new feature in its source code. He added that it is important to include the pictures of district representatives and the first nominee sectoral organizations on the ballots to be printed.

He also said that the printing of ballots will be done in the first week of July, and it is set to be finished by the third week of the same month, as there are around 2.39 million voters in the region. After the printing and verification of ballots, the election materials will be deployed starting in the first week of August.

With this, Garcia assured that the first parliamentary elections will push through in September, given that they have not received any new temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court to halt their preparations. /cb