MANILA - The Commission on Elections cannot limit the number of presidential candidates based on their chance of winning, an official said Friday.

A candidate only has to show legitimate intent and capability to run for a public post, according to Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez.

"We should be trying to expand democratic space rather than contract it. That is one of the biggest problems, a lot of people feel you should restrict it to 1 or 2 deserving people," he told ANC's Headstart.

"Under the Constitution, everyone has the right to run...and if they meet those conditions, whether or not we feel they have chance of winning, that’s a different story altogether and that should be a question left to the electorate."

There are nine presidential candidates in the upcoming May elections, the most since the 1998 polls.

The Comelec's new format for its second presidential debate will be a "more focused discussion" as it will be done in groupings of 3, Jimenez said.

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"We think this will allow us to explore answers at greater depth than before," he said.

The Comelec en banc is still discussing additional penalties for absent candidates, according to Jimenez.

• 'We cannot legislate': Comelec says no legal power to compel debate attendance

"At first glance medyo malabo na mag-additional penalties pa tayo (it doesn't seem likely we'll impose additional penalties) apart from what they were already given, they're not allowed to use our e-platforms. Beyond that there's really nothing in the law to require these candidates to attend these debates," he said.

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The poll body has also referred incidents of alleged vote buying to local officials for investigation, Jimenez said. "That’s called the presumption of innocence kaya mahalaga na may (it's important to have a) complainant."

Meantime, the Comelec is awaiting the result of the National Bureau of Investigation's probe into allegations of security breach on election data through Smartmatic.

"Smartmatic has less roles to play here right now. We have certain supply contracts for example for the machines, some services. Beyond that wala naman talaga eh (nothing more)," he said.

"As far as we're concerned service na lang ang binibigay na lang nila satin (they're providing just service)."

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