Local board of canvassers may start proclaiming winners for local races within two to three hours after polls closed at 7:00 p.m., while the canvassing of votes and the proclamation of winners for the national race is expected to be completed as early as five days, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.
“Once the results from all the polling places have been collected and submitted, they will be consolidated into a comprehensive total. Following this process, the final vote counts will be compiled, and a canvass certificate will be prepared,” Comelec chairman George Garcia said.
“Additionally, an official announcement regarding the election results will be made public. Therefore, by the end of the day, it is anticipated that the winners for both the mayor and vice mayor positions will be announced,” he added.
Meanwhile, Garcia said the Comelec en banc will open its consolidation system at around 3 p.m. on Tuesday (May) 13 to start the partial counting of votes coming from different parts of the country.
The national race in the midterm polls covers senators and party-list representatives.
“All types of boards of canvassers—municipal board of canvassers, city board of canvassers, provincial board of canvassers, and national board of canvassers, will gather together. We, in en banc, will start our canvassing at three o’clock, specifically the consolidation system, which counts all the votes,” Garcia said.
The canvassing period for this year is expected to be faster compared to the 2022 elections, according to the poll body chief.
“This improvement is attributed to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) enhancing their systems, particularly with the introduction of automated counting machines and the electronic transmission of election results, which streamline the process significantly,” Garcia added.
