The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will not push through with the scheduled proclamation of winning partylist groups on Thursday, May 19.
The Comelec en banc which sits as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) decided to adopt Tuesday, May 17, the recommendation of their Supervisory Committee to temporarily withhold the proclamation of winning partylist groups since the certificate of canvass (COC) from Lanao del Sur has yet to be transmitted.
"The aforesaid untransmitted results will greatly affect the determination of the winning partylist groups and the number of seats to which each is entitled," said the NBOC Supervisory Committee recommendation read in open session.
"The proclamation for the winning partylist groups be done only after receipt of the results from the province of Lanao del Sur," it added.
With this, Comelec Commissioner George Erwin Garcia moved to withhold the proclamation of winning partylist groups as earlier scheduled.
"I move likewise to adopt the recommendation of the Supervisory Group as regards to the proclamation of 12 winning candidates as well as the no proclamation in the meantime of winning partylist groups which can only happen after the receipt of certificate of canvass from Lanao del Sur," Garcia said.
It can be recalled that a failure of elections was declared in 14 barangays in the municipalities of Butig, Binadayan, and Tubaran in Lanao del Sur due to election-related violence.
A special elections will then be held in these areas on May 24.
“We shall resume the canvassing specifically for the partylist candidates on the 25th of May 2022 after the special elections in Lanao del Sur on May 24, 2022,” Comelec Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan ruled.
The latest results of the canvassing of the NBOC have yet to be released as of this writing.