Comelec to 'wait and see' on 'no-election' scenarios

The Commission on Elections on Sunday said it was on a "wait and see" mode in face of the possible postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls in Mindanao in May, and a no-election scenario in 2019. 

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had said there may be no midterm elections next year if a new Constitution is ratified, paving the way to a federal system of government. 

• READ: No elections in 2019? Anything is possible - Speaker

May's local polls, meanwhile, could be postponed in Mindanao due to threats of terrorism and insurgency -- which were cited in the extension of martial law in the region.

"We really just have to wait and see... There's a lot of things that need to fall into place before either of these no-el scenarios can come to pass," Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez told ANC. 

The local elections, he noted, can be rescheduled through a law. 

The midterm polls, however, will "be a little trickier for those who want it scrapped per se because the elections in 2019 are scheduled in the Constitution itself," Jimenez said. 

ANC, 21 January 2018