Voters in the 2018 barangay and Sangguniang Kabattan elections flock to voting precincts at the Barangay Manoc-Manoc Elementary School on Boracay Island. (File photo by NESTOR P. BURGOS JR. / INQUIRER VISAYAS)
MANILA, Philippines — The number of precincts in the 2025 national and local elections will be reduced due to budget cuts in the proposed 2024 budget of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which will result in an average of 1,000 voters per precinct.
“Because of the reduced budget, we have no choice but to likewise reduce the number of precincts,” Garcia said, speaking partly in Filipino, on Wednesday in a conference called “Updates on Political Party Institutionalization and the 2025 NLE.”
According to Garcia, the supposed 128,000 clustered precincts for the 2025 elections will be reduced to 110,000.
“The implication of that is [there will be] at least 1,000 voters per precinct. Our situation is that problematic,” he said.
Not all precincts would have 1,000 assigned voters — as this will depend on which precincts would be clustered. But having 1,000 voters per precinct would be challenging for both the Comelec and voters, Garcia said.
“When there were just 800 [per precint], of course, there were machines that malfunctioned and failed. How much more when there are 1,000 people per precinct?” he said.
Because of this, Garcia said the Comelec would ask both the House and the Senate to restore part of its budget — or at least its funds for the preparations for the 2025 elections.
The Comelec had proposed an original total budget of P43.7 billion, but it was slashed to P27.6 billion.
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3 million more voters expected in 2025
In the same conference, Garcia said the Comelec was expecting three million new voters to register in 2024.
“By 2025 our projected number of voters is 71 million. Currently, we have 68 million,” he said.
Voter registration will begin early in February 2024 and will stretch until September.