Media asked to stop 'vote count'
Media asked to stop confusing 'vote count' in Philippines
Manila: Officials overseeing the country's elections have asked two media organisations to desist from carrying out their own "quick" counts so as not to confuse people on the results of the May 15 midterm polls.
Benjamin Abalos, chair of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), said he has asked the country's two biggest media network organisations - GMA7 and ABS-CBN - not to broadcast the poll results.
In a press briefing, Abalos said only the poll watchdog, the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), is accredited by the Comelec to conduct a quick count of the votes. Namfrel has been taking an active part in Philippine elections as a poll watchdog since 1986.
"The stations should not report the poll results because it confuses our people. It shows trending and we do not allow trending. They are not supposed to report unofficial counts. We are requesting them to put a stop to the quick count," Abalos said.
The poll chief was referring to the practice of some so-called independent pollsters of selecting poll results that came in from certain election precincts where a particular candidate has a strong following.
ABS-CBN and GMA7 had respectively partnered with separate computer firms, AMA and STI, to collate and transmit the tally of the voting.
The system used by the two networks is perceived to be faster because the results are transmitted electronically. The two broadcast stations had spent weeks and millions of pesos preparing for the vote count.
A source interviewed by Gulf News from GMA 7 network said they had stopped their poll count posted on their website and broadcast over their television and radio station.
"Our agreement with the Comelec is that the poll result broadcasts will stop once the Namfrel and Comelec starts their own official vote count," the source said.
Elections in the Philippines had been perennially marred with allegations of fraud. ABS-CBN and GMA had said that it had hoped to safeguard the sanctity of the ballot with the help from volunteers who can simply text in their reports on fraud to the networks.
