Comelec denies some overseas votes already counted

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) branded as false the reports that some overseas votes have already been counted, and that there were indicators on who are the winning candidates.

Comelec Commissioner George Erwin Garcia yesterday said, during the Balitaan sa Maynila virtual forum, that “it is not true” they are already counting the votes coming from overseas.

“To our kababayans, it is not true that we are counting the votes in overseas voting every day. We have not yet started counting the votes of our kababayans from overseas. We would only start counting the votes on May 9,” he said.

“So, do not believe people saying that there are already votes (counted), there are already winners and that there are already a number of votes for each candidate,” he added.

While they could prohibit the conduct of exit polls, he said there is no certainty that the results in these exit polls are accurate.

Garcia said, “The real exit polls would take place on May 9. So, do not believe that there are advance results. That is not true. That is fake news.”

The month-long overseas voting began last April 10 and would end on May 9.

There are 1,697,215 registered voters overseas who will be casting their votes in 92 foreign posts. They would be voting for national positions: president, vice president, 12 senators and a party-list group.

Even the votes of those who took part in the local absentee voting (LAV), such as teachers, soldiers, police officers and the media, would be counted on May 9.

The LAV took place from April 27 to 29, and the results may be known today.

“The LAV ended last Friday and it was very successful. Tomorrow we would know, once all the data is sent to the main office, how many participated, how many availed of the LAV,” Garcia said.

There are 84,221 people who registered for the LAV.