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42,011barangay captains, and 294,077 of 336,088Sangguniang Barangay members Per barangay: 5 in theSangguniang Barangay seats needed for a majority | |||
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2026 Philippine Sangguniang Kabataan elections | |||
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42,011Sangguniang Kabataan chairpersons, and all 294,077Sangguniang Kabataan members Per barangay: 4 in theSangguniang Kabataan seats needed for a majority | |||
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 Philippines portal |
Barangay (transl. villages) andSangguniang Kabataan (SK;transl. youth council) elections (BSKE) in thePhilippines will be held on November 2, 2026. Thesebarangay elections will determine thebarangay captain and SK chairman, and the composition of theSangguniang Barangay (transl. village council) and SK in each of the 42,011 barangays in the country.
Originally scheduled to be held on December 1, 2025, President Marcos signed a law postponing the elections to November 2026.
Each barangay has an elected chief executive, thebarangay captain, and an eight-seat legislature, theSangguniang Barangay, of which seven are electedat-large in this election.[1]
Voters aged 15 to 30 years old on election day also elect among themselves theSangguniang Kabataan chairperson in each barangay, who is the eighth member of the Sangguniang Barangay, and all seven members of the SK at-large.[2]
Both the barangay captain and the SK chairperson are elected via thefirst-past-the-post system, while the legislatures are elected viamultiple non-transferable votes.[1] All elected officials shall serve for four-year terns.
Barangay-level elections arenonpartisan elections. Slates of candidates for barangay captain and seven councilors, and an SK chairman and SK councilors, are common; a slate of barangay and SK candidates may cross-endorse each other. Political parties allegedly clandestinely support their candidates despite the nonpartisan nature of the election.[3]
Upon their election, barangay captains shall elect their cities' or municipalities'Liga ng mga Barangay (transl. league of the barangays) president, previously known and still known as the "Association of Barangay Captains" or ABC president, who also sits on their respective local municipal or city council. The municipal and city ABC presidents in a province shall elect among themselves a provincial ABC president who also sits on theprovincial board. The provincial and independent city ABC chairmen shall elect among themselves the national leadership of the League.[4]
Unlike the barangay captains, who have their own national federation, the SK chairpersons do not have such an equivalent body after its reformation in 2018.[5]
The2023 Philippine barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections were originally scheduled to be held on 2022 but were postponed to October 2023 with subsequent elections held in three-year intervals; this meant that after the 2023 elections, the next would have been held in 2026.[6] A Supreme Court decision in June 2023 declared the law postponing the election to 2023 to be unconstitutional but still ordered the 2023 elections to continue, with the next elections in 2025, then every three years thereafter.[7]
In June 2024, theCommission on Elections said it will benefit the commission if the barangay elections were postponed to 2026, to prevent the barangay elections being held on the same year as thegeneral election.[8] SpeakerMartin Romualdez filed a bill proposing a six-year term for barangay officials, for a maximum of two consecutive terms, with current officials' terms extended to 2029.[9] In November 2024, SenatorImee Marcos sponsored a bill postponing the election to 2029, then every six years thereafter. Marcos explained that a longer term shall give barangay officials to "deepen their understanding of both national and local issues, as well as implement their own medium- and long-term initiatives," aside from the fact that the barangay elections "will never coincide with the national and local elections".[10]
An updated Senate bill saw barangay officials terms set to four years, with the officials elected in 2023 serving until 2027, and in holdover capacity from 2025 onwards. A House bill has barangay officials' terms set to six years, with barangay incumbents serving until 2029. House representative Ma. Victoria Co-Pilar from Quezon City sponsored the House bill. Romulo Macalintal, the same lawyer who successfully sued the constitutionality of the previous postponement law, and the Legal Network for Truthful Elections both opposed further postponements.[11]
On April 21, 2025, the commission released its calendar for the barangay elections, setting the date on December 1.[12] By June 12, both chambers of Congress had ratified the bicameral conference committee version of setting barangay officials' terms to four years and up to two reelections, with SK officials' terms to four years with no reelection, and postponing the 2025 elections to November 2026.[13] Because of the developments on the bill, the commission suspended voter registration, setting it from July to October after2025 Bangsamoro Parliament election.[14]
In distinguishing Republic Act (RA) No. 11935, that law that was struck down as unconstitutional, to the bill awaiting the president's signature, Senator Imee Marcos said that RA 11935 extended the term of the incumbent when postponing the election to a later date, the current bill, aside from postponing the election, definitely set the term of office and term limits for barangay and SK officials. Macalintal countered that the bill extended "their tenure without a public mandate."[15]
By August, COMELEC chairman George Garcia said that they had been informed that President Marcos will sign the bill into law postponing the election on August 12, 2025.[16] On August 14, President Marcos signed the bill into law, postponing the elections to November 2026, extending incumbents' terms up to that time, extending upcoming officials' terms to four years from three, with still two reelections, except for SK officials who have no reelection.[17] Lawyer Romulo Macalintal, the same person who successfully sued to declare the prior postponement law as unconstitutional, sued anew for this law's unconstitutionality, arguing that the Supreme Court's requirements that there should be "important, substantial, or compelling reason" for the postponement was not followed.[18]
On November 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed Macalintal's petition, affirming the elections' postponement to December 2026.[19]
The commission scheduledvoter registration for this election from August 1 to 10, 2025.[20] The COMELEC announced that 2.7 million people registered for the election, with 65% of those registering coming from the youth.[21]
The commission again opened voter registration starting on October 20, 2025, and will continue until May 18, 2026.[22]
From the 42,001 barangays contested in 2023, there are now 42,011 barangays in the Philippines as of March 31, 2025, according to thePhilippine Statistics Authority.[23] The new barangays that will be contested for the first time are:
Moreover, boundaries of barangays inLas Piñas were redrawn after a successful plebiscite on June 29, 2024.[28]
| General elections | |
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| Presidential elections | |
| Senate elections | |
| House elections | |
| Constitutional conventions | |
| Local elections | |
| Barangay elections | |
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