Local winners in the Monday’s elections will be announced with 24 hours, and the national winners, within 48 hours.Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said that because of the continuous transmission of results from polling precincts nationwide the final poll results can be known as early as Wednesday.“The 48 hours will fall on Wednesday. We hope we can proclaim all of the 12 senators after 48 hours,” Brillantes said.He said Comelec’s capability to proclaim the winners will greatly depend on the discrepancy of votes between candidates and the votes that are yet to be canvassed.“It’s very, very possible that in case of close voting, we might be forced to withhold the 11th, 12th and 13th [winners]. But we will proclaim as many as we can,” he said.In 2010, the Comelec en banc, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBoC), proclaimed the first nine senators five days after election day.The board was scheduled to convene Monday night to prepare to receive the election results (ERs) as they come it.Brillantes said they expect to proclaim local winners between 12 to 24 hours, including candidates for mayor, vice mayor and councillors.The winning congressmen and provincial candidates will be announced after 36 hours.The proclamation of the winning party-lists will take longer because the results need to be computed, Brillantes said. Two percent of total votes cast in the party-list will be winners.Over 18,000 electoral positions were contested in Monday’s polls.Johanna M. Sampan
