The youth vote came out in force during the May 2025 midterm elections, helping drive the highest voter turnout ever recorded for a non-presidential race, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

According to Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia, tye May 2025 midterm elections recorded the highest voter turnout in terms Philippine midterm poll history, with an estimated 81.65 percent of registered voters participating, according to poll body's initial unofficial figures.

Garcia attributed this historic turnout — 55.87 million out of 68.43 million registered voters — to the strong participation of young voters and heightened public awareness in the lead-up to the elections.

“Base sa inisyal nating pagtingin, talagang dumagsa ang kabataan sa pagboto (Based on our initial observations, the youth really turned out in large numbers to vote)," he said during a press briefing on Thursday, May 15.

He noted that while voter participation was high across all age groups, the surge in youth involvement played a key role in mobilizing the electorate.The voter turnout came close to the 2022 presidential elections, which saw 84.20 percent turnout (55.43 million voters), highlighting how engaged the public remained even in a non-presidential race.

Garcia also highlighted the success of early voting, particularly among senior citizens and persons with disabilities, citing that over 3 million people had cast their votes in the first two hours of polling, between 5:00 to 7:00 a.m on election day.

While new vote-counting machines were deployed in this election, Garcia said the turnout was less about technology and more about civic engagement.

“Regardless of whether it is a new machine or not… I honestly believe basta mabigyan mo lang ng tamang prinsipyo't issue ang mga kababayan natin, they will go to the polls (Regardless of whether it is a new machine or not… I honestly believe that as long as you give our fellow Filipinos the right principles and issues, they will go to the polls),” he said.

Garcia pointed to Comelec’s sustained public engagement efforts, especially on issues like vote buying, as instrumental in challenging and motivating voters — particularly the youth — to exercise their right to vote.

“Naniwala kasi ang mga kababayan natin na mabibilang ang boto nila (Our fellow citizens believed that their votes would be counted),” he added.

As of Thursday, Garcia said the canvassing of 16 remaining Certificates of Canvass (COCs) was underway, with all local votes already in and only a few overseas precincts pending transmission — including those from Moscow and Iran, where technical limitations required rerouting through embassies in Qatar and Kuwait, respectively.

Assuming the remaining COCs are transmitted by 3:00 p.m. Thursday, proclamation of the winning senatorial candidates is expected by Saturday afternoon, with party-list proclamations to follow by Monday.

If realized, this will mark the fastest official proclamation in Philippine midterm history.

Garcia also reported a smooth and peaceful election process, emphasizing that no failure of elections occurred in any precinct across the country or in any of the 93 overseas posts.

“Again, nagpapasalamat tayo sa lahat-lahat ng workers, teachers, PNP, AFP, ang ating lahat ng tumulong sa Commission ng Elections dahil wala tayo kahit isa na failure of election (Again, we extend our gratitude to all the workers, teachers, the PNP, AFP, and everyone who helped the Commission on Elections, because we did not have a single case of failure of election)," he said.