The Commission on Elections (Comelec) this Monday started the printing of ballots for the upcoming midterm elections and the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARRM) on May 12.
The process — which was witnessed by Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia, representatives of the election watchdogs, and the South Korean election service provider Miru — was held at the National Printing Office in Quezon City.
"For us at the Comelec, the National Printing Office, and Miru, this is the point where we have no other choice but to continue the election," Garcia said in a press conference after officially starting the printing of ballots.
Ballots for local and overseas absentee voters will be printed for the first time this Monday, containing only national candidates.
Of the 183 who filed Certificates of Candidacy for senatorship, only 66 made it to the official list, while the final list of party-list groups was reduced to 155 after the Wage Hike party-list withdrew its candidacy. for the House of Representatives.
Also to be printed this Monday are the ballots for the first-ever Bangsamoro elections, featuring 109 candidates for the 65 parliamentary district seats in the BARRM.
Voters in BARRM will use two ballots on election day — one for parliamentary elections and one for national elections.
According to Garcia, an estimated 73 million ballots will be printed, of which 68 million are reserved for registered voters nationwide with candidates for local and national elections.
More than two million ballots are reserved for the Bangsamoro election, nearly one million for test ballots, and the rest for local and absentee voters.
Garcia reiterated that the Comelec will not print extra ballots.
