Manila: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has clarified that it has never issued a running total of votes, addressing concerns raised about the transparency of election results.

According to Philippines News Agency, Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco stated that while data for partial tallies may originate from Comelec, the tallies themselves are not released by the commission. He emphasized that the commission has not provided any unofficial tally or aggregate or running total outside of canvassing, as the law permits Comelec to aggregate only after the official canvass.

Laudiangco noted that the poll body releases the unofficial results per precinct to maintain transparency, alongside the official canvassed results. He advised the public to refresh the Comelec website every 5 to 10 minutes for updates, explaining that the website’s manual refresh protocol is part of their security measures to ensure users are human and not automated systems.

In a related development, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) spokesperson Ana Singson raised concerns over the inaccessibility of transmitted election results from Comelec. She highlighted that this lack of access is unprecedented since 2010 and expressed the organization’s concern over the situation.

Singson reported that PPCRV had zero access to the election data even after one-third had been transmitted. However, during a media briefing at 9 p.m., she confirmed that PPCRV was able to access the content of the file from Comelec and was in the process of analyzing the data. As of 9:15 p.m. Monday, Comelec had received over 81 percent of election returns for the midterm elections.