Comelec says preparations for 2013 polls on track

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) assured the public yesterday that the preparations for the May 2013 polls is still on track, but their time is eaten up mostly by the screening of party-list organizations.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the period for preparation is “getting narrower” so they are hoping to be unloaded of the issues concerning the party-list groups.

“We are still on time but the period is getting narrower,” Brillantes said, clarifying that scrutinizing party-list groups is the least of their problems.

So far, the Comelec has declared 83 party-list groups as qualified to join in next year’s elections. The poll body is still screening more than 30 organizations.

Brillantes said they hope to finish within this month the lists of all the official candidates, party-list groups and registered voters.

“We are preparing the listing of all the candidates and all registered voters. All of these are necessary in order to do the configuration in January,” he said, noting that in ballot configuration, they not only have to specify the candidates but the precinct number, clustered precincts, and number of registered voters in that particular precinct as well.