Comelec admits delays but confident polls will push through in over 85,000 precincts

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) expressed confidence that elections would be held in all 85,769 clustered precincts all over the country even as it admitted that there would be delays in some areas in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), among others.

“At the moment we are not projecting any place where there will not be any election,” said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez on Monday in a press briefing.

Jimenez disclosed that final testing and sealing of the vote counting machines (VCMs) were still being done in 30 polling areas in various regions or 0.03 percent of the 85,769 total number of clustered precincts.

“But there will be elections. There might be some delays but again, at this point, that’s very minimal considering that 99.97 percent have already been in place as of 2 a.m. [today],” he said.

Jimenez said there were 32 reports of vote-buying and 174 arrests.

“It shows that candidates were still trying to find ways to resort to vote buying,” he said. WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL

 

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