AS in the last election, the Liberal Party and the United Nationalist Alliance have been declared the dominant parties in the forthcoming May 9 national and local elections.
As dominant parties, Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista said the LP and UNA to get the fifth and sixth copies of the election returns to be produced by the vote counting machines.
“After using our formula, we were able to come out with the finding that the dominant majority party is the LP while the dominant minority party is UNA,” Bautista said in a forum.
Aside from election returns, LP and UNA will also receive electronically transmitted precinct results, the seventh and eight copies of the certificates of canvass, and authorized to assign official watchers in every polling place and canvassing center.
Based on Comelec Resolution No. 9984, the criteria used by the commission is based on the established record of the said parties, the number of incumbent elective officials belonging to them on the last day of the filing of Certificates of Candidacy, their identifiable political organizations, their ability to field a complete slate of candidates and other analogous circumstances.
No other details have been made available as of press time, particularly on which parties were designated as major national and local parties.
During the 2013 elections, the LP was also declared the dominant majority party while the UNA was ruled the dominant minority party.
Four political parties were tagged as major national parties, namely the Nacionalista Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats and National Unity Party.
On the other hand, the Comelec opted to accredit six major local parties, which are Kusog Baryuhanon for the Province of Davao del Norte; Kapanalig at Kambilan Ning Memalen Pampanga for the Province of Pampanga; United Negros Alliance for the Province of Negros Occidental; Hugpong Sa Tawong Lungsod for Davao City; Partido Abe Kapampangan for Angeles City; and Arangkada San Jose for San Jose Del Monte City.