By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora | Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Only 1.68 million votes remain for canvassing before the official 2019 midterm elections results are out, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Sunday.
“The remaining votes to be canvassed is 1,683,938 for Isabela, Japan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United States and Nigeria,” said Frances Arabe, assistant director at the Comelec Education and Information Department, in a press briefing.
As of 7:18 p.m Sunday., the Comelec en banc, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, has tabulated 162 out of the total 167 COCs.
The last to be canvassed before the session was suspended for Monday was the COC from Zamboanga del Sur.
The NBOC expects the remaining COCs from Isabela, Japan, US, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia transmitted soon, but Arabe said the proclamation of the winning candidates is “unlikely” to be held on Monday.
“We will try our best to canvass all the COCs so we can only have one event for the proclamation of senators and party-lists,” she said.
In the latest partial, official count released on Sunday night, re-electionist Senator Cynthia Villar still leads the senatorial race with 24,757,642 votes, followed by Grace Poe with 21,563,558 and Christopher “Bong” Go with 20, 223,738.
Ranking fourth is Pia Cayetano with 19,390,096 votes, Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on top 6 with 18,639,583, followed by Sonny Angara with 17,786,740, Lito Lapid with 16,587,742, Imee Marcos with 15,362,702, and Francis Tolentino with 15,196,397.
Trailing behind but still on top 12 were Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III with 14,395,957 votes, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. with 14,279,625, and Nancy Binay with 14,065,071.
For the party-lists, the top 10 groups are ACT-CIS, 2,569,702 votes; Bayan Muna, 1,102,167; Ako Bicol, 1,045,670; Cibac, 915,840; Ang Probinsyano, 761,677; 1Pacman, 708,398; Marino, 679,876; Probinsyano Ako, 623,271; Senior Citizens, 507,633, and APEC, 480,015.
