The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said nominees of the winning party-list groups in the May 9 polls are not required to attend the proclamation.
"As with the filing of the certificate of nomination and acceptance, it's not necessarily that the nominee themselves appear. The only requirement is that they are members or representatives of the winning party-list groups,"
Comelec Acting Spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said in a press briefing Thursday, May 19.
The poll body, meantime, is eyeing the proclamation of the winning party-list groups in the 2022 polls on May 25.
This is a day after the special elections in several barangays in Tuburan, Lanao del Sur.
"We have to emphasize that the 685,00 voters of Lanao del Sur and the 1,991 in Shanghai will really affect the computation and the ranking of party-list. That's why the Comelec en banc, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers for Senators and Party-List, decided not to pursue the partial proclamation today (May 19). Instead, we will be proceeding with that after the May 24 special elections in Lanao del Sur," Laudiangco said.
Asked if there is a possibility of the winning party-list groups being proclaimed partially, he said:"Anything is possible."
"But we are confident that maybe the 1,991 in Shanghai upon completion of the Lanao del Sur will no longer affect and we could proceed hopefully on May 25 with the proclamation of the winning party-list," Laudiangco said.
"The intention of the Comelec is really to complete...complete (the proclamation) of the 63 seats," he added.
The poll body has yet to decide the venue for the proclamation.
Meanwhile, ACT-CIS is still leading in the party-list race based on the latest partial, official tally of the poll body with 2,109,022 votes.
Other top vote getters are 1-Rider Party-List, Tingog, 4Ps, Ako Bicol and Sagip.