Comelec chair seeks new registration for updated, accurate voters’ list

Comelec Chair George Garcia (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — The chair of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), George Garcia, urged Congress on Wednesday to allow a re-registration of voters to establish a more accurate list for the 2028 elections.

Garcia made his call during a conference called “Updates on Political Party Institutionalization and the 2025 National and Local Elections” at The Bayleaf Intramuros.

“In 2026, let’s annul the list of voters. Let’s convince Congress — the Senate and the House: Let’s annul the list of voters in the entire country then let’s have a one-month general reregistration of voters,” Garcia said, speaking partly in Filipino.

“That will let us know if there are really 68 million voters in the country, so that least, when we’re back to zero in 2028, it’s a new start,” he said.

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Garcia stressed the need for a new voter’s list after baring that Comelec recently discovered a total of 491,000 multiple registrants through its automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS).

He also noted that the oldest recorded fingerprint they have dates back to 2003.

“Of course, many things have changed in that person’s situation. So the question is: How accurate is the current system being used?” he said.

Garcia also suggested to Congress allow Comelec to procure a new biometrics system before conducting the special re-registration of voters.