Comelec scraps two-ballot plan for BARMM polls, keeps candidate photos on ballots

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY  (May 11) — The Commission on Elections has dropped its earlier plan to issue two separate ballots for the September 2026 Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE), opting instead for a single ballot format that election officials say will simplify voting for the public.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said voters in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will now receive only one official ballot containing candidates for Regional Parliamentary District Representatives, Regional Parliamentary Political Parties (RPPPs), and Parliamentary Sectoral Organizations (PSOs).

“We shall only have one ballot now. We no longer plan on having two ballots,” Garcia said.

The decision follows the filing of 108 certificates of candidacy for parliamentary district representatives, alongside the accreditation of 16 political parties and 23 sectoral organizations.

Earlier, the poll body considered using two ballots because of the expected volume of party-list and sectoral entries in the first-ever parliamentary elections in BARMM.

Under the earlier proposal, one ballot would contain district and political party candidates, while another back-to-back ballot would cover sectoral organizations.

Election observers and community leaders, however, had raised concerns that multiple ballots could confuse voters in remote and conflict-affected communities where voter education remains a challenge.

Garcia said the Comelec is also standing firm on including candidate photos and party logos on the ballots despite objections from some Bangsamoro lawmakers who argued these are not mandatory.

“What the Comelec did is we insisted that the pictures of the candidates should be included, we insisted that the logos of the parties should be printed,” Garcia said.

For election officials, the move is about more than aesthetics — it is about voter recognition and accountability.

“It’s only right that our people will vote not just because of the name, but because they saw who it was exactly they wanted,” Garcia added.

The inclusion of photos and logos is seen as especially important in areas where many voters may recognize candidates more by face, symbol, or community presence than by written names alone.

Under the Bangsamoro Electoral Code, candidate photos and party logos should be included in official ballots “as far as practicable.”

As BARMM prepares for its first parliamentary elections, civil society groups say voter education will be critical to ensure communities understand the new voting system and avoid disenfranchisement on Election Day.