MIDWAY through the conduct of the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE), the the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) noted the presence of poll irregularities in different voting centers across Bangsamoro.
In a statement, Lente pointed at the emergence of the issue on the voters’ ability to freely choose their own candidates.
"A major issue to emerge from the Barmm elections thus far is the vulnerability of voters’ ability to freely choose their own representatives, with the sanctity of the ballot repeatedly violated and the assisted voting process abused across several areas," said Lente.
Of the 492 monitoring reports on the voting process, it said 137 have recorded that voters did not personally feed their own ballot into the automated counting machines, and that a large majority of these reports (119) identified Electoral Board members as those feeding voters’ ballots to the machines.
Lente said the abuse of the assisted voting privilege was also prevalent across the Barmm with voter assistance recorded in 187 of 501 monitoring reports on the voting process.
"This high number of assisted voting is a serious vulnerability in itself, as it opens the door to violations of ballot secrecy, and in its worst form, an assistor is no longer assisting the voter at all but substituting their own choice for the true will of the electorate," said Lente.
It also reported that vote buying or selling was recorded in 19 monitoring reports.
Lente also said partisan political activity by an Electoral Board or Sectoral Electoral Board member was also reported in 27, mostly in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.
Poll violence
For its part, the Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) on Monday expressed grave concerns over the escalation of violence during the conduct of the first-ever Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE).
In a statement, the Anfrel and NDI said they are "gravely concerned" with the rapid escalation of violence in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
"The Anfrel-NDI mission is gravely concerned about the rapid and widespread escalation of violence surrounding the Barmm Parliamentary Elections, and urgently calls on all stakeholders to exercise restraint, refrain from any further acts of violence, and allow the people of the Bangsamoro to freely participate in the region’s historic first elections," said Anfrel-NDI.
It noted how from the eve of the elections through mid-day on Election Day, several shooting and explosive incidents were reported in Cotabato City, that left three dead and more than a dozen wounded.
Following the opening of polls, the poll observers said instances of gunfire, violence, and intimidation were reported in Cotabato City, as well as in parts of Basilan and Maguindanao del Sur.
"The security situation remains volatile, but voting continues and the determination of the Bangsamoro people to exercise their democratic rights remains evident," said Anfrel-NDI.
The groups then called on the Commission on Elections and the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to take action and prevent the further escalation of violence.
"The immediate priority must be to prevent further loss of life and ensure that violence does not undermine the hard-won gains of the Bangsamoro peace process," said Anfrel-NDI. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)
