Out of the record-high 68.43 million registered voters in 2025, a total of 55.87 million cast their ballots
MANILA, Philippines – Voter turnout in the 2025 elections reached 81.65%, the highest in history for midterm polls in the country, data from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) showed on Thursday, May 15.
Out of the record-high 68.43 million registered voters in 2025, a total of 55.87 million cast their ballots.
In the high-stakes 2022 presidential election, 55.5 million Filipinos voted, for a turnout of 82.6%. Turnouts during midterm elections are usually lower than in presidential elections, as Filipinos only vote for senators, party-list representatives, and local officials.
This is still the highest midterm poll turnout ever. In 2019, the turnout was only 75.9%, and in 2013, 77.31%.
The number still excludes the 1.24 million Filipinos who are registered overseas. The turnout for overseas absentee voting has yet to be announced.
The overall figure is still expected to increase since the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections were postponed to October. The Comelec considers the BARMM parliamentary elections as a continuation of the 2025 midterm polls.
This was the first time that the Comelec used South Korean firm Miru Systems as its election technology provider. The company had its fair share of controversies during the transition.
An election watchdog, for one, asked the Supreme Court to compel Miru and the Comelec to disclose more information about Miru’s joint venture and how the Filipino ownership cap was affected when one of its Filipino partners pulled out.
Throughout election day, various technical issues were also reported in parts of the country. These included malfunctioning automated counting machines (ACMs) and ballots being wrongly read as overvotes.
Since the period of election preparations, the Comelec has stood by the security and integrity of the new system. However, it also made clear that the 110,000 ACMs were rented, and that these could be returned if the poll body wants to switch providers in the next election.
After the polls, the Comelec will convene a technical working group to conduct a manual random audit of ballots to determine if the machines counted the ballots correctly.
The 2025 midterm polls took place amid a bitter political feud, after the Philippines’ top two officials who once ran as a team hit their lowest point since their breakup. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte, who were allied as the Uniteam of 2022, virtually battled it out as aspiring government officials picked sides, or tried to play both.
The 12 new senators will play a crucial role in whether Duterte’s impeachment by the House of Representatives in the 19th Congress will come to a conviction.
Visit and bookmark Rappler’s 2025 Philippine elections site for the latest news, explainers, analyses, multimedia content, and data on the senatorial, party list, and local contests.
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