An updated list of the candidates for the May 2022 elections was posted on the poll body’s website on Friday.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) released a new tentative list of candidates for next year’s elections. Candidates with pending cases for exclusion were included in the list.

From 97 presidential candidates in the previous list, this has been whittled down to 15. The vice-presidential candidates went from 28 to nine, while there are now 70 senatorial candidates from 174.

Comelec Director James B. Jimenez clarified that the updated list isn’t official yet. He said on Viber: “Not yet final. Names will still be stricken off the list as the judgment in their respective cases achieve finality. In any case, aspirants become ‘official candidates’ only at the start of the campaign period.”

Comelec Commissioner Ma. Rowena Amelia V. Guanzon stated on Thursday that those who filed cases to stop the poll body from printing ballot numbers of party lists should realize what they have done.

“If ballots are not printed by January, [the] May elections is at risk,” she said in a tweet.

The tentative lists of candidates for national positions (president, vice-president, senator) can be accessed here: https://comelec.gov.ph/php-tpls-attachments/2022NLE/TentativeListsofCandidates/NATIONAL_12242021.pdf. The tentative list of party lists can be accessed here: https://comelec.gov.ph/php-tpls-attachments/2022NLE/TentativeListsofCandidates/PARTYLIST_12242021.pdf. — Jaspearl Emerald G. Tan

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