Comelec suspends canvassing of votes anew

MANILA, Philippines—The canvassing of votes of the senatorial candidates was suspended for the third night Wednesday after it had canvassed a total of 36 certificates of canvass from cities and provinces because of the slow rate of transmission of results from the lower level boards of canvassers, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said.

“The canvassing tonight will end at exactly 12 midnight. Canvassing will resume 7 a.m. tomorrow morning,” Brillantes announced as the Comelec en banc, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), was canvassing the COCs from the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV).

Grace Poe continued to lead in the partial, official Comelec count with 3,440,772 votes while reelectionist senators Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero came in at second and third with 3,103,446  and 3,023,802 votes, respectively.

Reelectionist senator Alan Peter Cayetano was fourth with 2,954,477 votes while Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara wais fifth with 2,803,192 votes. Nancy Binay was ranked fifth with 2,724,283 votes.

Brillantes said that they would most likely proclaim half of the winning senatorial candidates by Thursday evening.

Brillantes previously said they would proclaim winning candidates on Wednesday night but had to cancel it due to the slow rate of transmissions from the lower level boards of canvassers.