Nearly 2 million new registered voters have registered for the 2025 national and local elections as of the first week of April, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported.
The Comelec said it may also exceed its 3 million target before the September deadline.
The Comelec said the total number of voter applicants reached a total of 1,920,887 as of April 9, 2024.
“It appears that our projection of 3 million will be exceeded, especially with Sept. 30 still far off. It looks like we will exceed and reach probably 3.4 (million) to 3.5 million,” poll body chair George Erwin Garcia said.
Voter registration activities for the 2025 midterm polls kicked off on Feb. 12.
Calabarzon (Region 4-A) still has the most number of applicants with 350,923, followed by the National Capital Region with 284,921.
Garcia urged new voters to apply early to avoid inconvenience and hassle during the last day of application.
Earlier, the Comelec said only 14 party-lists have so far been accredited to participate in the forthcoming 2025 national and local elections.
Garcia did not disclose the names of the organizations, but said they expect more to be accredited before the start this coming October of the filing of candidacy for the 2025 midterm polls.
“We only accredited about 14 party-list organizations, compared to 70 groups in 2022,” Garcia said.
“We are currently screening more than 100 of the party-list organizations and we’re hoping that at least 130 party-list organizations will be participating under the party list system in the coming 2025 elections,” Garcia added.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has awarded the contract for the Secure Electronic Transmission Services (SETS) project to be used in the May 2025 midterm polls to the joint venture (JV) of iOne Resources Inc. and Ardent Networks, Inc.
“After careful examination, the Commission on Elections, sitting en banc, resolved to approve the recommendation of the Special Bids and Awards Committee to issue a Notice of Award to the iOne-Ardent JV for the procurement project of SETS. During the Special En Banc Meeting, the Commission moved to agree to the SBAC Resolution No. 4, which was issued on March 25, 2024,” the poll body said in a statement late Monday.
According to the recommendation of the SBAC, the company has passed all legal, financial, and technical requirements of the project worth PHP1.638 billion.
In February, the JV of iOne Resources Inc. and Ardent Networks, Inc. was declared giving the “lowest calculated bid” after tending a bid of PHP1.426 billion.
The SETS will be used to transmit election results using telecommunication networks.
The project also includes the provision of data centers and connectivity requirements for the Automated Election System (AES) servers. PNA