Comelec hopes to proclaim all winning party-lists on May 25

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 19) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday said it hopes to proclaim all 63 winning party-lists on May 25 after the votes from the Lanao del Sur special polls are transmitted.

Comelec acting spokesperson Rex Laudiangco told reporters that the poll body has "positive" projections that the 1,991 votes expected from Shanghai, China — where Filipinos are still unable to vote due to strict lockdown rules — will no longer affect the rankings.

"We are confident na baka naman 'yung 1,991 upon completion of Lanao del Sur, ay hindi na makakaapekto, and we could proceed hopefully on May 25 with the proclamation of the winning party-list candidates, complete na po," he said in a media briefing.

[Translation: We are confident the 1,991 votes, upon completion of Lanao del Sur, will no longer affect the rankings, and we could proceed hopefully on May 25 with the proclamation of the winning party-list candidates.]

Laudiangco said they will find out for sure if they can do a full or a partial proclamation after the results of the Lanao del Sur polls on May 24 are accounted for.

"But projections po are positive," he stressed, saying different groups within the Comelec, including its supervisory committee, made the forecast.

"Medyo sa ngayon po, lahat ng pag-aaral nila ay positive naman po na 'yung 1,991, basing on history, 'yung ganong kaliit na boto ay hindi nakaapekto kahit pa doon sa dulo. So talagang ang inaasahan na lang po namin makumpleto namin ang Lanao del Sur," he added.

[Translation: As of now, their studies show that the number of votes as small as 1,991 will no longer make an impact to the rankings, even for party-lists at the bottom vying for a slot in the 63 seats. That's why we're really just relying on the completion of the polls in Lanao del Sur.]

Comelec earlier scheduled the partial proclamation of winning party-lists on May 19. However, the commissioner later decided to move the date, in consideration of the special polls in Lanao del Sur, where failure of elections was declared in 14 barangays due to poll-related violence.

Based on the latest Comelec tally, the ACT-CIS party-list has garnered the highest number of votes with 2.1 million, followed by 1-Rider and Tingog with around 1 million and 886,000, respectively.