THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) admitted Friday, September 24, that long lines of people looking to beat the voter registration deadline are being reported from a lot of places in the country, but it clarified that it is not happening nationwide.
"We are getting a lot of reports of long lines, definitely. But it is not everywhere. The long lines are being reported from a lot of places, but we know is not happening everywhere," said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez in a virtual press briefing Friday.
"Mostly, the problem that we see is happening in urban centers," he added.
On calls for the extension of the voter registration, Jimenez said they believe that it will only result in about 200,000 getting enlisted.
"Right now, our expectation is we are probably going to get less than 200,000 that have yet to get registered," he noted.
He said this is because the Comelec has long met its projected number of applicants for the voter registration period for the May 2022 polls.
"Officially, we feel that everyone that is expected to register would have registered already. Again, we have exceeded our expectation of four million. We are now actually at five million," said Jinenez.
The Comelec’s statement came amid images of long lines seen in several Office of Election Officer (OEOs) and satellite voter registration sites, as people scramble to beat the September 30 deadline for voter registration.
Some sectors have earlier filed formal requests to the poll body to extend the voter registration period, which started back in January 20, 2020.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have also passed similar bills compelling the poll body to grant a one-month extension of voter registration.
Nevertheless, the Comelec is set to hold an emergency meeting in the coming days to discuss the calls to extend voter registration.
According to Jimenez, Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas has called for a meeting with all top poll officials before the regular Commission en Banc meeting on Wednesday, September 29.
"Chairman Abas is going to convene a management committee meeting participated by all top Comelec officials," said the poll official.
"We still maintain that our timelines make it very difficult for us to actually have an extension. However, we are going the extra mile precisely because we hear the clamor of the people," he added.
He said the meeting will extensively discuss all possible scenarios for the Comelec in the event that the voter registration period is extended.
"The ManCom will discuss the possible impact of the voter registration extension on our preparations for the 2022 national and local elections, while taking into consideration the realities on the ground," he said.
"We are going to talk about all kinds of extensions. All periods I would say. Again, the idea of the ManCom is to play out every possible scenario," added Jimenez. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)