Comelec declares “No Failure Of Elections”
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia that there was “no failure of elections” this 2025.
In a press conference almost an hour before the polling ended on May 12, Comelec held a press conference. Garcia said that compared to the 2022 elections, this year, fewer problems were encountered. Less number of machines and election paraphernalia were replaced because of certain problems.
He also addressed the complaints of some voters that their receipts did not match the names they shaded on their ballots. The Comelec chairperson said that there was no single evidence to this claim. For him, there was a great possibility that voters just forgot the names they shaded.
In the press conference, he also said that there is a possibility that polling time will be extended because based on the election rules, as long as people are still within the 30-meter radius of the voting area, they will still be allowed to cast their votes.
Then, he said that some precincts around the Philippines will extend the polling time not just because there was a failure of the election but simply because there was an issue with their ballots. With this, Comelec had to immediately replace the ballots which consumed the allotted time for voting.
When asked by a reporter if there was no announcement of any failure of elections in any precinct, Garcia said. “Wala po tayong failure of elections whatsoever, lahat naman po ay nag-function.”
He explained that there are several factors to declare failure of elections – number one is that the election paraphernalia did not arrive, so nothing can be used. Then, the number two factor was that no teacher arrived at the precinct, so no one served as an electoral board member and it resulted in failure to elect.
The Comelec Chairman stressed that the election paraphernalia was there, the teachers and the election were held, and the precinct itself functioned.
He added that there is no failure of elections also if only one person voted in a precinct out of a hundred registered voters unless the rest were threatened not to vote.