Friday, July 25, 2008 Volunteers nix delay in Armm elections
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Poll volunteers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) have expressed dismay when they learned that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has endorsed the postponement of the regional elections this August 11.
Salic Ibrahim, chair of the Citizens Coalition for Armm Electoral Reforms (Citizens Care), said they could not afford to delay the elections "as so much preparations had already been done by both the government and the civil society groups involved in poll monitoring."
Citizens Care, the biggest poll watchdog in the Armm, has helped organized the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), which would serve as poll volunteers for the August 11 Armm elections.
Ibrahim said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is also ready to implement the automated elections, two weeks from now.
"We are expecting that the Armm elections would be historic. Use of automated voting machines would show that we can make elections fraud-free," said a poll volunteer.
Despite the recent pronouncements made by Arroyo during her visit in Cotabato City, the Comelec has proceeded to conduct mock elections last Tuesday in Buluan and Datu Paglas in Maguindanao.
"As seen in the successful mock elections held Tuesday, we know that the Comelec is ready to implement the first-ever automated election system," Ibrahim said.
He added: "We have already reached this far. We cannot afford to postpone the elections in Armm at this point. So much preparation has been done both by government and the civil society community."
Ibrahim, however, clarified that the Citizens Care and other poll watchdogs in the region "are very supportive of the ongoing peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and are looking forward to the possibility of a long lasting peace in the region."
This, however, should not derail the conduct of the automated Armm polls especially since this will serve as the testing ground for full automation in 2010, according to Ibrahim.
This is not just an ordinary political exercise as we are testing a new system of automation so that we know if we can implement it for the national elections in 2010, he added.
Since June, Citizens Care has been active in mobilizing the local communities in Armm to support the automated elections and educate the voters on the operation of the automated voting machines that will be used in the upcoming polls.
"We appeal to the legislators not to postpone the Armm elections. The automated elections means a lot for the Armm voters and to the Filipino people as well. More than anything else, this is our first step to reforming our election system," said Ibrahim. (Malu Cadelina Manar)
