THE workers’ poll watchdog Workers’ Electoral Watch (WE Watch) condemns the Commission on Elections over overwhelming reports of malfunctioning voter registration verification machines (VRVM) and vote counting machines (VCM) in several precincts across the country.
Workers are gravely concerned over the massive malfunctioning of VRVMs and VCMs which led to disenfranchisement of voters and posed a higher risk of electoral fraud. We call the attention of the Comelec to take immediate responsible measures to ensure voters of the overall integrity of the electoral process and that voters are not disenfranchised.
The massive technical malfunctions have deprived workers their right to vote and advance the workers’ electoral agenda. The malfunctions have undeniably affected the credibility of the elections.
The Comelec promised that the AES would result in a fair, clean, orderly and credible election but these malfunctions proved otherwise. It is not acceptable that the Comelec has spent billions of pesos for a malfunctioning Automated Electoral System (AES) that not only deprived our citizens their right to vote but also makes the results of this elections dubious.
We blame these technical malfunctions to Smartmatic’s monopoly over Philippine elections and the profit-oriented multi-billion peso purchase of Comelec. (By Charity Sicad, WE Watch spokesperson)