The Commission on Elections (Comelec) intends to announce the winning senators and party-list groups a week after the last ballot from today’s elections is counted.
“From the Municipal and Provincial Boards of Canvassers, they will be brought to the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC). By our estimates, the canvassing in the national level will run from five to seven days,” Comelec chair George Garcia said in an earlier press briefing.
Garcia pointed out, however, the unofficial results may already be known as early as tonight due to the speedy transmission of election results by the automated counting machines (ACMs) of Miru Systems, the South Korean consortium that replaced Smartmatic.
Voting precincts opened this morning at 7 am and will continue to accept voters until 7 pm, while some other precincts have been allowed by the Comelec to start operating as early as 5 am.
More than 68.4 million Filipinos are expected to cast their votes in this midterm election today, with about 4.3 million of them considered as first-time voters.
“… Candidates with name recall due to affiliation with a political dynasty are more likely to win in areas with high poverty incidence…”
As shown by the surveys, voters will be choosing candidates who champion job generation and worker’s rights, food security and agriculture development, improvement of the health care system and OFWs’ welfare, as well as an advocacy to defend the country’s territorial integrity.
Meanwhile, some other candidates may have an edge over the others for their name recall, pedigree or descent from political dynasties.
A study shared by the Social Science Research Network also tracked a 20 percent increase in vote-buying cases in all elections held after 2004.
The link between underdevelopment and going for popular candidates and political dynasties was also established but varies across regions.
This means candidates with name recall due to affiliation with a political dynasty are more likely to win in areas with high poverty incidence, compared with regions known for having relatively high employment and literacy rates.
The 2025 midterm elections are turning out as another expensive political exercise as candidates double their campaign spending to secure those votes.
Even before the formal campaign for the Senate race began, two senatorial candidates have reportedly spent P1 billion each on their campaign ads, according to Neilsen Ad Intel.
A candidate running in a small congressional district in South Luzon has allegedly spent almost P2 billion.
Four days before the elections, campaign ads by party-list bets are dominating the airwaves, which should indicate that representing the marginalized sectors is more cash-daunting than running for senator.
The national police have reported 13 dead so far from 35 election-related violence, with the highest number recorded in Cordillera and Bangsamoro regions as of last Friday.
Days from now, we may expect administration bets to dominate the polls, but upsets could still upend the otherwise predictable Senate race in case candidates from the camp of the former administration pull off a big surprise.
Post-election, we shall see whether we would be gripped by a big national drama involving a much-talked about impeachment of the second highest official of the land or not, and whether alongside that would be a re-alignment of forces to capture the Senate presidency or the Speakership.
If so, that would be a wrap for another season of Philippine elections.
