Comelec: Tallying party-list poll results may take time

MANILA, Philippines - It will take time to compute the votes for party-list groups, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters, Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the Comelec would still have to discuss how to compute the votes that party-list groups had garnered against the total votes cast in the party-list elections. “Party-list will require some time for computation because we have to compute the two percent of (total) votes,” he said.

Under Republic Act 7941, the Party-List System Act of 1995, party-list groups must occupy 20 percent of seats at the House of Representatives or 58 seats. 

The Comelec has to determine the two percent of votes cast to determine the winning groups. 

A House seat is earmarked for every two-percent votes that a party-list gets.  

If the 20-percent seats are not filled up, the next party-list groups could occupy seats despite having less than two-percent votes.

For this year’s polls, 123 party-list groups are listed on the official ballots, but 12 of them are actually disqualified from joining the race.

The SC had remanded their cases to the Comelec, which had upheld their disqualification.

The poll body is uncertain if they will contest the decision before the SC. 

The 12 are: Agapay ng Indigenous Peoples Rights Alliance, Inc. (A-IPRA) Abang Lingkod Party-List (ABANG LINGKOD) Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) Ang Galing Pinoy (AG); Atong Paglaum, Inc. (Atong Paglaum) Kaagapay ng Nagkakaisang Agilang Pilipinong Magsasaka (KAP)  Coalition of Senior Citizens in the Philippines, Inc. (SENIOR CITIZENS)  Social Movement for Active Reform and Transparency (SMART) 1st Kabalikat ng Bayan Ginhawang Sangkatauhan (1st KABAGIS)  The True Marcos Loyalist (for God, Country and People)  Association of the Philippines, Inc. (BANTAY) Philippine Coconut Producers Federation, Inc. (COCOFED) Binhi-Partido ng mga Magsasaka Para sa mga Magsasaka (BINHI).