ZAMBOANGA CITY – THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking to come out with the guidelines on how to handle “None of the Above” (NOTA) votes days before the October 13 Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE).
In an interview here on Friday, Comelec chairman George Garcia said they are looking to release the guidelines for the NOTA votes by early October.
“The Comelec has not yet made a decision on the issue of ‘None of the Above’. The question and issue there is, is ‘none of the above’ a candidate? Should it be included in the selection?” he said.
the NOTA is a requirement under the Bangsamoro Electoral Code (BEC), which states that there must be a “None of the Above” option in the official BPE Ballots “as far as practicable.”
Article VII, Chapter 1, Section 14 states that: “As far as practicable, the official ballots for the BPE shall include, aside from the name of all candidates, each candidate’s photo/logo and a ‘None of the Above’ option.”
Garcia said the Comelec is waiting for the position papers of all BARMM political parties to be submitted on the NOTA issue before finalizing the guidelines.
Likewise, Garcia noted that “the (Bangsamoro) parliament said they plan to introduce an amendment. Let’s see if they can do that this September.”
The Comelec has called for a meeting with different stakeholders of the October 13 BPE to discuss the potential complications that could be brought about by the issue on the NOTA option.
Among others, a decision has to be made if the NOTA gets the most number of votes since the BEC and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) do not provide clear guidance on the matter.
