Comelec suspends polls in Lanao town

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) suspended yesterday the holding of national and local elections in the municipality of Tarang in Lanao Del Norte after a lower court ordered the inclusion of 1,800 voters in the certified voters’ list despite their failure to register last year.

Comelec Commissioner Mehol Sadain, commissioner-in-charge of the region, said he recommended to the commission en banc the suspension of elections in Tarang.

Those ordered by the court to vote failed to register until the last day of registration in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Dec. 29 last year.

Comelec chairman Alfredo Benipayo said the poll body decided to suspend the elections in Tarang to prevent electoral fraud and stop the 1,800 voters from voting.

Benipayo said the elections in the municipality will be held next month. — Pia Lee-Brago