Friday, August 15, 2008 Foreign observers bare anomalies in Armm polls
FOREIGN observers belonging to the Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel) on Thursday revealed several irregularities in the recently concluded Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) elections even with the implementation of the automated elections.
"There were no problems with the machines. The election commission will have to decide on that. There are some areas and things, though, that will have to be attended," said Anfrel secretary-general Kingsley Rodrigo during a press briefing in Makati.
Twenty-two foreign observers, composed of four Indonesians, five Thais, one Sri Lankan, two Malaysians, three Nepalese, six Cambodians, and one Bangladeshi, were deployed to various areas in the region to monitor how the elections were being conducted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Their roving efforts were able to reach 443 polling precincts.
Asked what problems they observed, the group said insufficient efforts to implement the law, particularly on the identity of the voters, including those who are underage, remains a problem.
According to Anfrel, there were still cases of flying or "ghost" voters in some precincts.
"(There were) insufficient safeguards to reliably identify voters and prevent phantom/multiple voting," said the group.
The lack of consistent use of indelible ink and checking of ID cards also contributed to it, they said.
Another factor which the foreign observers raised was the lack of secrecy in the voting procedure of the elections in particular the lack of covers for the voting machines.
They also questioned the impartiality of the members of the board of election inspectors (BEIs) in administering the votes at the precinct level.
"Some BEIs were observed taking the paper audit trail from voters and looked at which candidates they had chosen. While others were also observed wearing clothing that had candidates' names and pictures," they said.
There are also some BEIs who failed to stop the representatives of the candidates from carrying election paraphernalia, which is prohibited under the law.
Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said they welcome the observation of Anfrel.
"We are open to their recommendations, we will study them for our future electoral exercises," said Melo, adding that the foreign observers were talking of ideal conditions.
He said although that some of the issues raised by the group failed to include vital information, such as the name of the precincts, they will look into the matter.
However, he said the issue on vote-buying, which is a perennial problem during elections, is very hard to contain, noting that it is beyond the control of the election body.
He also belied the foreign observers' claim that the Comelec failed to educate the voters, as many of them did not sufficiently understand the new voting system.
"I think the voters' turnout figure would speak for that," he said.
The Comelec recorded an overwhelming 84 percent voters' turnout out of the more than 1.5 million registered voters in the Armm, who participated in the August 11 elections. (MSN/FP/Sunnex)
