WITH 150 days to go before the midterm elections in May 2019, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it will release Saturday, December 15, the final list of candidates.
In a media briefing, Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said there are an estimated 34,000 candidates who will vie for 18,094 positions.
“Tomorrow (Saturday), we will already release the list of candidates. This means we are ready to design the ballots. After designing the ballots, we are ready to print the actual ballots,” said Jimenez.
“This list will cover a vast majority of the candidates,” he furthered.
Jimenez said the list to be released will already exclude those deemed as nuisance candidates.
However, the poll official said the list may still include those with pending petitions to have their Certificates of Candidacy (COCs) cancelled.
Jimenez made the announcement during the start of the process of "trusted build" for the automated election system (AES) to be used in the May 2019 elections.
On Friday, the Comelec began the "trusted build" program for the Election Management System (EMS).
“One of the outputs of the EMS is the ballot. The EMS is being used in designing the ballots,” he explained.
Jimenez said the EMS is the one that compiles the number and profile of registered voters, their geographic locations, polling precinct information, among others, all of which are necessary in designing the official ballots.
Aside from the EMS, the vote counting machines (VCM), and counting and canvassing system (CCS) will also undergo the "trusted build" program.
"Trusted build" is the process of assembling the overall program that will govern the entire AES using the reviewed components.
This is after the AES components passed the international source code review conducted by international systems and software testing firm, Pro V&V, in Alabama, USA. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)