MANILA—The petition of National Youth Commission chairperson Ronald Cardema to replace his wife as the first nominee of Duterte Youth party-list has not been resolved, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Saturday.

Frances Arabe, director of the Comelec's education and information department, said the Comelec en banc has yet to release a decision.

Arabe, meanwhile, clarified that Cardema filed the petition on May 12, a day before the elections, contrary to earlier reports that it was filed on May 16.

"On the petition filed by Ronald Cardema of Duterte Youth, we would just like to correct the info given yesterday (Friday), the filing of the petition for substitution is dated May 12, 2019," she said.

The deadline for substitution was at 6 p.m. on Election Day, May 13.

Under the Party-list System Act, a nominee of the youth sector must not be more than 30 years of age on the day of the election. Cardema is 33.

He was urged to file a leave of absence during the campaign period or resign his position as NYC chair to avoid using his post to campaign for his wife, Ducielle. The group's fifth nominee is another relative, Elizabeth Cardema.

As of 10:10 p.m. Saturday, Duterte Youth received 346,311 votes or 1.25 percent, based on 98.25 percent of partial and unofficial election returns.

The party-list will need to secure 2 percent of the total votes in the party-list race to get at least one slot in the lower chamber during the first round of seat allocation. A party-list group can get up to as many as 3 seats.