Manila, Feb. 18 -- The printing of the 73 million official ballots for the May 12 midterm polls is nearing its halfway mark, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported Tuesday.

In an interview, Comelec chairperson George Garcia said the ballots printed at the National Printing Office (NPO) is now at 47.48 percent or a total of 34,235,042 ballots.

"Hopefully, in the next few days, we will be able to reach the 50 percent mark," he added.

Of the total number of ballots printed, 17,254,221 ballots were printed by service provider Miru Systems while 16,980,821 ballots were produced by the NPO.

A total of 37,862,378 ballots will still have to be printed. Meanwhile, Miru still needs to print 19,595,657 ballots, while the NPO must be able...