Evolving election administration (Sabong News)
Author
J. Albert Gamboa
Date
MAY 17 2022
With the May 9, 2022 national and local elections now part of history, it is important to reflect on the evolution of election administration in the Philippines. Prior to 2010, the country struggled to conduct free and fair elections. Every three years, each new election cycle was marked by contested results, electoral violence, a slow vote count, and widespread distrust.
After monitoring the 2004 elections, the International Foundation for Election Systems said: “The Philippine elections are marred by allegations of cheating and fraud. This fundamentally undermines not only the credibility of election administration, but also the legitimacy of the elected institutions of the state.”
The automated election system (AES) has apparently improved election administration in the country since it was first implemented in May 2010. Vote after vote, it has enabled Filipinos to trust the elections with faster results and an accurate, transparent count. Indeed, the 2010 elections marked a turning point and from that time on, the country has consistently improved all election metrics.
Over the weekend, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) began the investigation of some 1,800 vote counting machines (VCMs) that encountered issues during the May 9 polls, or more than double the 801 reported cases in the 2016 elections. This came after President Rodrigo Duterte’s call on the Comelec to probe the defective VCMs and secure digital or SD cards in order to dispel doubts on the integrity of the poll results.
According to Stratbase ADR Institute for Strategic and International Studies, “the more substantial story is the fact that over 99% of the VCMs performed flawlessly and led to highly-successful general elections.” Stratbase ADR is an independent international research organization focused on the in-depth analysis of economic, social, political, and strategic issues influencing the Philippines and the Indo-Pacific region.
It pointed out that a more interesting story passed by that had gone seemingly unnoticed by social media: “Faced with the choice between going home or waiting for the machine to start working, voters refused to surrender their ballots to the poll workers. What this means is that voters preferred to wait as long as it was necessary until they could feed the VCMs with their marked ballots themselves. The real story here speaks of an electorate that has come to appreciate the AES.”
Memories of the distant past – when voters went home without knowing if their vote would be tallied – may have played a big role. Filipinos have obviously learned their lessons, with experience as their best teacher. It is a learning curve leading to the greater efficiency of the electoral process, marking a new milestone in Philippine history.
Meanwhile, taking the cue from President Duterte, the 1Sambayan coalition asked the Comelec to look into alleged poll irregularities that cast doubt on the integrity of the May 9 elections.
Aside from VCM malfunctions, the coalition cited incidents of vote buying, voter disenfranchisement, widespread disinformation on social media, and red-tagging that marred the conduct of the polls. “We are urging the Comelec to investigate these and to hold accountable those behind these incidents so people will know the truth and these irregularities will not be repeated in future elections,” 1Sambayan stated.
Currently the coalition is reviewing election returns (ERs) that were reported in the Comelec’s quick count. So far the review indicated that the ERs matched with those gathered by 1Sambayan at the precinct level.
Congress is scheduled to resume sessions on May 23 and sit as the national board of canvassers for the presidential and vice presidential elections. Based on the legislative calendar, the Senate and the House of Representatives have only 12 days to finish the vote tabulation and declare the winning candidates before it adjourns on June 3.
