Tuesday, June 03, 2008 Stakeholders finalize strategies for Armm polls monitoring By Malu Cadelina Manar Correspondent
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Poll watchdogs and other civil society groups from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) will start finalizing Tuesday strategies and mechanisms to ensure better election monitoring during Armm elections in August.
The two-day meeting, which will end on June 4, is the second of the series of their conferences since the creation of a Regional Coordinating Council (RCC).
The council, organized after their meeting last May 17 in Cotabato City, is tasked to lay down strategies to better improve the monitoring of elections in the region, often marred by irregularities and other electoral fraud.
The council is composed of poll watchdogs, including the Citizens Coalition for Armm Electoral Reforms (Citizens Care) and church-led Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), Bishops-Ulama Council (BUC), Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS), Legal Network for Truthful Election (Lente), and Bangsamoro Lawyers Network (BLN).
The Citizens Care is the lead convener and its chair, Salic Ibrahim, is the council's coordinating team leader.
"For an election marred by irregularities and fraud, it is imperative that advocates for electoral reforms discuss election positioning before the conduct of the elections," said Ibrahim.
The council has already laid down last May what they termed as an "electoral reform roadmap," which serves as their guide on how to conduct monitoring of the Armm polls this August.
It is in this "roadmap" that the strategies were set.
It is expected during their meeting Tuesday that advocates brainstorm what they can possibly do to contribute in ensuring free, orderly, and honest elections in the region.
Also, during the meeting, participants would be oriented on poll automation.
Ibrahim said it is crucial that they learn how frauds can be detected using computers or machines.
Technical experts from two suppliers of the machines -- Smartmatic-Sahi Technologies Inc., and the Avanti International Technologies Inc. -- are expected to join the conference.
The technologies include the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) and the Optical Mark-sense Reader (OMR).
The DRE system uses touch-screen or touch-pad technology and is fully automated.
The OMR technology meanwhile requires voters to fill out a paper ballot, which will be scanned by specially designed machines.
Also, representatives from some funding agencies are expected to join the discussions.
"Their support is needed to make the RCC plan to monitor Armm polls succeed," said Ibrahim.
The Citizens Care, organized in 2005, is the only civil society organization in Armm that has devoted its efforts in electoral reforms.
Since then, it has taken the initiatives in mobilizing the electoral reform advocates in the region.
