2025 special polls, plebiscites suspended

To focus all resources on the conduct of the May 2025 midterm elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has suspended all special polls and plebiscites until next year.

- MAYEN JAYMALIN

In a resolution, the commission ordered the suspension of the Sangguniang Kabataan Special Elections (SKSE) "until further notice." It also suspended the conduct of all plebiscites effective September 2024 and scheduled the electoral exercises within four months from the end of election period for the December 2025 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE).

After deliberation, the Comelec decided to suspend the special polls and plebiscites "so as not to derail the preparations for the May 2025 (elections) and the first Bangsamoro parliamentary election as well as the BSKE." Last June, the Comelec issued guidelines for the conduct of SKSE in barangays, where the number of SK officials elected is less than the required quorum or where no SK official has been elected at all after nobody filed the necessary certificate of candidacy during the BSKE 2023.

The commission previously scheduled plebiscites in Maguindanao del Norte; Presentacion, Camarines Sur; Cauayan, Negros Occidental and Parañaque City.