Excesses in Philippines polls 2013 worse than 2010, watchdog says

Manila: A citizen’s watchdog slammed the Commission on Elections and its handling of the 2013 polls, saying the conduct of the vote had been poorly managed and had put in question the integrity of the current automated polling system.

In a statement published in its blog, the Automated Election System Watch — an elections watchdog comprised of some 40 organisations — said the Commission on Elections (Comelec), in its recent decisions concerning the conduct of the 2013 vote, had stalled if not set back efforts to modernise the conduct of the polls in the country.

“Let us remember that the modern election system has been a 20-plus-year project replete with legal, political, and financial controversies. At the rate Comelec is implementing it reveals that automated polls are a far cry from what was envisioned by its authors — that it would modernise the election process,” AES Watch said.

AES Watch took exception of the Comelec’s recent decision to declare the poll victors even if the Comelec had yet to comply with conditions such as achieving the necessary number of votes.

Comelec on Saturday evening declared 12 new senators, completing the roster of new legislators in the Upper Chamber of the bicameral congress. But prior to this, the poll body had declared piecemeal the election winners on Thursday and Friday.

Elections lawyer Romeo Macalintal had said this was unacceptable since the mandate of the Comelec in announcing the winners of the polls requires that the number of votes for the victors be identified.

AES Watch points out: “By committing more errors than those recorded in 2010, by making arbitrary and highly irregular decisions during canvassing, and proclaiming presumed winning candidates prematurely, the Comelec has turned the second automated elections from bad to worse — a technology and political disaster.”

AES Watch likewise points out other shortcomings committed by the Comelec which could set a “bad precedent” for the conduct of future polls in the country and placed the integrity of the political exercise on the line.

“Aside from Comelec’s non-compliance — yet again — of the election law and the technical glitches, there was an unprecedented large-scale vote buying. Political clans are now even more entrenched with a bigger number of their members being fielded in extensive areas and perpetuating themselves in power thereafter,” it said.

AES Watch said that compared to the 2010 vote, “there are more data discrepancies as well as open and brazen possible manipulation of election data at the stage of canvassing and consolidation”.

“All these raise the issue whether Comelec is not only short-cutting the process but is also dictating the results of the election in violation of the people’s right of suffrage. Comelec has leaped beyond what it is supposed to do – to administer the elections and protect the people’s sovereign voice; now it has become the anointer for who deserves to win,” AES Watch said.

AES Watch is made up of some 40 organisations, institutions, NGOs, IT professionals, researchers, and academics. It was launched in January 2010 and monitored and documented the 2010 and 2013 automated elections.