Nuisance candidates will not be included in the printing of ballots for the May 2025 midterm elections after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolved all cases for local and national posts.
Comelec chairman George Garcia said the Comelec en banc has already decided on all of the issues involving 114 nuisance candidates as of December 27.
He described the move as “a historic first,” explaining nuisance candidates were included in the ballots of previous elections since their cases were not resolved even at the Comelec division level.
Supposed to commence this month, the start of printing of the official ballots for next year’s polls is set for Jan. 6, 2025.
“Our projection is the printing will run for 77 days, which means there must be, more or less, one million ballots printed per day,” Garcia said.
The poll body must be able to print over 70 million official ballots within a tight schedule, according to the poll chair.
The Comelec has also has upheld a decision disqualifying former congressman Edgar Erice from running for Caloocan City’s 2nd District post in the May 2025 elections due to his continued criticisms of the automated election system (AES).
In a 30-page decision released over the weekend, the en banc affirmed its Second Division’s earlier ruling barring Erice from participating in next year’s polls.
“The integrity of elections is the cornerstone of democracy and any act that undermines this foundation cannot be tolerated. Respondent’s disqualification is not merely justified but necessary to protect the sanctity of our electoral process. This Commission must act decisively to ensure that the people’s trust in their democratic institutions remains intact,” the ruling stated.
The commission emphasized that Erice’s actions to discredit the AES were central to the decision.
The petition, filed by one Raymond Salipot, accused Erice of “deliberately spreading false and alarming reports, and circulating misleading messages to disrupt the electoral process and cause confusion among the voters,” as prohibited by the Omnibus Election Code.
Comelec highlighted the need to act decisively against Erice to safeguard public trust and prevent further attacks on the Commission’s credibility.
“In the face of such patent and continuing attacks on its integrity and the general conduct of the elections, the Commission is duty-bound to act decisively to put an end to the baseless and malicious accusations hurled against it and to dispel the public alarm, doubts, and confusion intentionally sowed by the Respondent,” the en banc decision stated.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “Comelec resolves all nuisance candidate cases in ‘historic first’.”
