Comelec declares no failure of elections in 2025 polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) declared no failure of elections in the 2025 midterm elections despite reports of malfunctioning counting machines, disinformation, and violence in certain areas.

Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia defined an election failure as a situation where electoral materials do not arrive on time, election board members are absent, or violence prevents the election of an official.

Garcia dismissed allegations of vote discrepancies, suggesting voters might have forgotten their selected candidates.

He assured that any reported issues would be addressed during the ballot review and the subsequent random manual audit.

Despite 311 automated counting machines being replaced, Garcia stated there were no major technical problems throughout the day due to the availability of 16,000 spare voting machines.

However, the Comelec chief acknowledged that some precincts might extend voting hours due to faded or blurred timing marks on ballots, which affected the automated counting machines.

Ballots were immediately reprinted for at least 15 precincts to prevent disenfranchisement, a measure Garcia stated would not affect the overall election results.