Comelec to declare winning senators, party-lists Saturday

Winners in the senatorial and party list races will be proclaimed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) this Saturday instead of Friday as earlier planned, a poll body official said. The commission, as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), will proclaim the winners, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said. The NBOC would base its proclamation on the certificates of canvass (COC) sent by the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) which got the COCs from the city and municipal board of canvassers. The city and municipal board of canvassers creates COCs based on results in the clustered precincts. As of Thursday afternoon, the Comelec has received only 21.89 percent of the COCs from the PBOC. Larrazabal, however, told GMANews.TV that only 2 to 3 percent of the election results have yet to be transmitted from 76,347 clustered precincts nationwide. He could not immediately identify which areas have not yet transmitted election results to the commission. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the commission will identify those areas late Thursday. According to the latest official tally of the poll body, the candidates most likely to snag a senatorial seat are: