Cebu, the province with the largest number of registered voters, had 87.48 percent voters turnout during the May 9 elections, officials of the local Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Thursday.

The rate, which corresponds to 2,021,310 registered voters who cast their ballot last Monday, is higher than the 80.51 percent turnout in the 2019 mid-term polls.

In the 2016 national elections, 84.95 percent of the province's registered voters exercised their right to suffrage.

“This means the people have been encouraged to vote and we are happy about it,” Cebu Election Supervisor Jerome Brillantes said of the latest figure.

The outcome could have been higher if the machines did not reject 98,257 ballots, which "could be dirty ballots" or due to "over-voting", he noted.

Brillantes said they will however still keep account of these ballots.

Cebu province and its major cities delivered big during the 2022 elections for the UniTeam tandem of "Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte-Carpio, who were endorsed by Gov. Gwen Garcia and her party.

It yielded over 1.5 million votes for Marcos Jr. and 1.77 million votes for his Duterte-Carpio. During her proclamation as reelected governor, Garcia said that this is a fulfillment of the promise she made to the UniTeam.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama also said that he is looking forward to more partnerships with the UniTeam for the city.

• Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama wins re-election bid

Meanwhile, the Comelec Cebu said it would send 33 ballot boxes with 800 ballots inside to the poll watchdog PPCRV for its manual audit.

For live election results, see ABS-CBN News Halalan results.

— Report from Annie Perez

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