Polls 'successful' due to speedy counting, changing candidate behavior

Speedy vote counting and tabulation and changing behavior of losing candidates made the country’s first ever nationwide automated polls “successful," poll watchdog National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) said on Friday. Vote-counting which took place “at unprecedented speeds" due to new automated system was “the most dramatic improvement" in this year’s polls, it said in a statement. The move among candidates to concede their losses days after the polls was another “dramatic" change in the Philippine political scene, the poll watchdog said. “In prior elections, losing candidates rarely, if ever, conceded defeat. In this election, losing presidential candidates quickly conceded their loss within 48 hours of elections, thereby reducing political tension and contributing to the public acceptance of results," the group said. Among the presidential aspirants who conceded defeat to frontrunner Sen. Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III a day after the elections were Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., and Sen. Richard Gordon. The Namfrel described the May 10 polls as “a celebration of democracy," and lauded Filipino and teachers who served as members of the boards of election inspectors (BEIs) for doing their part to make the elections work. “By their patience and exuberance in a new process, and by the doggedness and resourcefulness of the teachers and the commitment of the Comelec to make it work, elections did work... On the whole, the new process of voting in an automated election system worked better than most people’s expectations," the group said. Recommendations The Namfrel, however, stated some recommendations to address some “concerns" the group observed on election day. The poll watchdog said that aside from the perennial problems like election violence and vote buying, problems on ballot secrecy were also observed during the May 10 polls. “There was little or no secrecy in the filling up of ballots and inserting of ballots in PCOS [precinct count optical scan] machines. The length of the ballot, the close proximity of voters lining up to receive the ballots, and the size of the secrecy folder, and the method of inserting ballots into the PCOS machine with poll watchers standing beside voters did not lend itself to any confidentiality of a person’s vote," Namfrel said. The group also noted that the pace of counting and canvassing “considerably slowed" two days after the polls, which might alter results especially in tight races. Compact flash cards earlier reconfigured due to inaccurate count of votes should be preserved and reviewed, the Namfrel said. The poll watchdog likewise urged the Comelec and the accredited citizens’ arm, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) to complete the random manual audit of votes “at the soonest possible time" so that possible discrepancies between machine and manual counts can be immediately made public. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV