The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday announced it has identified 66 valid senatorial candidates out of 183 aspirants for the 2025 polls.

Comelec chairperson George Garcia said the Law Department has reviewed the applications and found 66 legitimate candidates who will be included on the ballot.

“The rest have various issues, especially those with two CONAs [certificates of nomination and acceptance] from political parties that exceed the allowed number,” said Garcia.

The Comelec’s Law Department is expected to release a proposed list of qualified individuals and potential nuisance candidates to the Commission En Banc by 15 October.

The Comelec has also received five petitions to cancel the candidacies of certain aspirants due to alleged ineligibility. The Law Department will act on these petitions and release a list of individuals whose candidacies will be canceled.

To recall, the poll body received over 43,000 candidacy papers from those seeking to be elected as senators, party-list representatives, and for different positions in provinces, cities, and municipalities nationwide from 1 to 8 October 2024.