Commission on Elections Commissioner Rowena Guanzon yesterday said there will be no extension of voters registration despite the clamor of some sectors.

Guanzon, who visited the Negros Occidental and Bacolod poll offices, said it would be difficult for the Comelec to grant an extension because it is working with a very tight deadline.

The Comelec has to prepare the lists of candidates nationwide for the printing of ballots, and the final lists of voters to be furnished to all political parties, she said.

The Comelec is also conducting hearings on petitions for the disqualification of nuisance bets from the official list of candidates for the 2016 polls, Guanzon added.

She said that of the 120 candidates for president, about 10 are likely serious candidates and the list will be pruned down.

The long lines of people wanting to register to vote until the deadline on Saturday in Bacolod City and some parts of Negros Occidental, was also seen in Metro Manila and in other parts of the country, Guanzon said.

In Bacolod City, the COMELEC processed 915 voter applicants on the last day, Saturday, Mavil Majarucon Sia said.

She said they were finalizing the list of the total number of Bacolod voters yesterday.

Provincial Election Officer Jesse Suarez told Guanzon that the total number of voters of Negros Occidental were also still being tabulated and the target is to reach 1.6 million voters from the 1.59 million in July.

Guanzon noted that Negros Occidental has been ranked as the province with the fourth highest number of voters nationwide.

Voters were given sufficient time to register to vote. If they failed to do so Comelec is not to blame, she said.

The next registration of voters will be before the October barangay elections next year, she said.

She said the voters list for the 2016 polls has been cleansed with the required capturing of biometrics of voters.

This eliminates ghost voters and double registrants, she said.

She also said there has also been a nationwide segregating of data to determine how many women are candidates and voters.

There is a proposal to set a gender quota on the number of female candidates a political party should field that could either be voluntary or legislated, said Guanzon, who heads the Comelec Gender and Development Committee.

Guanzon said such practice has been successful in Rwanda, Norway, India and Bolivia and their models are being looked at.

Meanwhile, she said absentee voting for policemen, soldiers, teachers and the media will be allowed by April.

She also reminded the public that a gun ban will be in place when the election period starts in January.

Only those with Comelec gun ban exemptions will be allowed to carry firearms, she said.*CPG

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