The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday said it's earlier target of 70 million voters in the 2025 midterm elections is "unattainable."

"Presently, we have more or less 66 million new voters," Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said in a press conference.

Of the 66 million voters, Garcia said the poll body has more or less 2.6 million new registrants. About 400,000 of those being reactivations.

"Ang projection po ng Comelec we will have 70 million to 71 million voters (Comelec projected that we will have 70 million to 71 million)," he continued.

"As it stands now, mukhang hindi nating kakayanin yung projection natin. Bakit po? We now have 66 million and our registration will end by Sept. 30 (However, as it stands now, it seems like we will not meet our projection. Why? Because we only have 66 million voters and our registration will end by Sept. 30)," he added.

Garcia said he doubts four to five more million eligible Filipino voters would still register.

"Mukhang hindi namin mare-reach yung 70 million new voters (It seems like we will not be able to reach our target of 70 million new voters)," he added.

The Comelec official attributed the low registrant turnout to the number of deactivated voters.

There are about 5.3 million deactivated voters, based on the poll body's latest data.

Garcia said they will seek help of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting to encourage the deactivated voters to reactivate.

He, however, noted that fewer than 100,000 of the 5.3 million deactivated voters have reactivated.

"It will greatly reduce the number of voters that we will have in 2025," he added.