|
Monday, August 15, 2005
Poll official favors constitutional change
MARAWI CITY -- An amendment to the Constitution seeking to de-synchronize national and local elections is imperative to keep the country's electoral exercises more manageable and orderly.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Resurreccion Borra made this observation in the light of the recent political exercise in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) whereby proclamation of winners was completely done three days after balloting was held.
On August 10, two days after casting of votes, winners for regional assembly seats were declared in most provinces; and by Thursday afternoon, the new governor and vice-governor were proclaimed.
This is a record time in the history of elections in the Armm and even in the country.
"The faster the process is, the more credible the results are," Borra said.
The speed is principally attributed to the small number of positions at stake; voter turnover in precincts and canvassing of the votes cast is fast.
Monday's election was held to choose the Armm's governor, vice-governor and 24 representatives to the regional legislative assembly elected from every district in five provinces. A total of 124 individuals vied for the various seats up for grabs.
In each ballot, a voter is asked to fill only five slates: the governor, vice-governor and three regional assembly representatives.
But this is not the case during the synchronized election for national and local leaders.
The sheer number of positions contested makes voting and canvassing a very time-consuming activity. The monstrous job of vote counting will be compounded when a large number of individuals vie for the positions contested.
Borra said that if the national and local elections are held in separate schedules, the situation in such electoral exercises can approximate that of the ARMM polls in terms of manageability.
A synchronized election is decreed by the Constitution.
If held separately, Borra calculates that generating results would still be faster even with manual counting.
He also pointed out that even if counting is done electronically, it will still take time to generate results if elections are synchronized.
"It will still be time-consuming to read the names of a string of candidates, recite the votes they respectively got in order for a computer encoder to tabulate these electronically," he explained.
At this point in time when the Supreme Court has already ruled on the nullity of the contract on the automated counting machines and decreed its return to its supplier, Borra said the Comelec will be scouting for counting equipments designed "to suit the political culture of the country."
The new counting machines must be "fast, accurate and with less human interventions." (Ryan Rosauro)
(August 15, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
|
