ELECTIONS chairman George Garcia yesterday said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has accredited only 41 new party-list groups to participate in the May 2025 polls. 

In an interview in Makati City, Garcia said the lower number is a result of the poll body’s stringent screening process for organizations applying to be accredited party-lists. 

“This is much lower compared to the 2022 elections, wherein we accredited almost 70 new party-list organizations,” he said. 

The poll chief said the Comelec rejected the application of 142 groups. 

“It’s not just because we want to simply reduce the number of party-lists. What we want is to ensure that the real marginalized and underrepresented sectors will be represented,” said Garcia. 

He said they are looking to release the final roster of party-lists that will participate in the May 2025 polls within the week. 

This, he said, is timely considering that the period to file the list of party-list nominees will be from October 1 to 8.

There were 177 party-list organizations that participated during the 2022 elections.