Comelec prints over 45M election ballots, aims to finish by March 10

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported Tuesday that over 45.65 million ballots for the May 12 midterm elections have been printed, representing 63.32 percent of the total required.

Of these, Miru Systems has produced 22.57 million ballots and the National Printing Office (NPO) has made 23.08 million.

Comelec aims to complete ballot printing by March 9 or 10, with an additional 26.45 million ballots still needing to be printed—Miru Systems will print 14.23 million and the NPO will handle 12.17 million.

The poll body is exceeding its daily targets, printing about 1.7 million ballots every day.

The campaign period for senatorial and party list candidates started on Feb. 11, while local bets will start their campaign on March 28.

Up for grabs in the May 12 elections are 317 congressional seats and thousands of local posts, with a particularly intense battle expected for the 12 spots in the 24-seat Senate.