THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday, March 14, 2025, said it expects to complete the canvassing of votes for senators and party-list groups in the May 12 midterm polls within five to seven days.
In a press briefing, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said they expect the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) to complete its work inside a week's time.
"From the Municipal and Provincial Boards of Canvassers, they will be brought to the National Board of Canvassers. By our estimates, the canvassing in the national level will run from five to seven days," said Garcia.
"When you compare it to the nearly month-long canvassing in the manual elections, this will be a lot faster," he added.
In the May 2022 polls, the winning senatorial candidates were proclaimed after nine days.
On the other hand, the winning party-list groups were proclaimed after 17 days.
However, the poll chief noted that the unofficial results of voting can already be known as early as the night of Election Day.
This is due to the speedy transmission of election results by the automated counting machines (ACMs).
"Unofficial results can be known as soon as the night of the elections," said Garcia.
He added that this is especially true with the Comelec and its service provider for transmission, which is set to 5G technology.
Garcia said add to this is the availability of Starlink technology for areas with very weak signals.
"Hopefully, the people will not be surprised with our fast transmission of election results," said Garcia. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)