Manila: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is planning to increase the ballot shading threshold for the September 2026 Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) to 25 percent. "The Commission en banc is planning through our technical people to raise the (shading) threshold from 15 percent, and make it 25 percent," Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said during the start of the Hardware Acceptance Test for the Automated Counting Machines (ACMs) to be used in the Sept. 14 polls. He said the plan to increase the shading threshold is in response to some opposition to the 15 percent shading threshold. "Now, we are making it 25 percent so that there is no more confusion, no more issues about the threshold," he added.

According to Philippines News agency, the shading threshold refers to the portion of the oval in the official ballots that needs to be shaded for a vote for a particular candidate to be counted by the ACMs. On the other hand, Garcia said they are also planning to start the printing of the official ballots for the BPE before the end of the month to give them more time to deploy the official ballots. "Our initial plan is to have the ballot printing throughout July, then we will deploy by August. Now, we are looking at the third or last week of June to start printing. Then, around the second week of July, we will be able to finish," he added.

There are 2,393,530 registered voters for the first-ever Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary polls. Meanwhile, the poll body started printing the ballots to be used for the roadshow and training activities for the BPE at the National Printing Office on Monday.