Comelec spokesman James Jimenez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – The Commisison on Elections is quite ready to hold elections for 13 senators next year if Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago leaves the upper chamber to take up a post on the International Criminal Court, according to a Comelec official.
The election body is ready to make the necessary adjustments in the precinct count optical machines (PCOS) if the Senate declares a vacancy once Santiago leaves, opening up a 13th slot in the senatorial elections next year, according to James Jimenez, the poll body’s spokesman said.
“If the Senate does declare a vacancy—in the event that Santiago leaves for the ICC—it is essential that the Comelec give the PCOS specific instructions to search for 13 or less votes [in the ballot] in the senatorial race,” Jimenez wrote in his blog.
“If the Comelec does not do this, then any ballot that has 13 votes in the senatorial box will have those votes considered stray,” he said.
Jimenez said that the PCOS machines had been instructed to search only for 12 or less votes in the senatorial race.
“If you vote for less than 12, the PCOS will record the number of votes you indicated and the rest will be recorded as abstentions. This is called an under-vote,” he explained.
“But if you vote for more than 12, then all your votes for senator will be considered stray, and therefore will not be credited to anyone. This is called an over-vote,” he added.
Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. has asked Santiago to immediately notify the commission once she has decided to leave the Senate for the ICC so the Comelec could determine if the ballots to be printed for the 2013 senatorial race would have 12 or 13 slots.
Jimenez said the poll body was also concerned about the number of senatorial candidates that various political parties would be registering with the Comelec.
“If it isn’t clear by the period for filing certificates of candidacy [COC] how many positions are being contested, then some political parties might actually file just 12 COCs when they could be filing 13,” he said.
“Obviously, the number of senatorial hopefuls is entirely up to the political parties. However, it is in the interest of the orderly administration of elections that all parties—whether or not they intend to field 13—are aware of how many senatorial slots are up for election,” Jimenez said.