Election watchdogs called for a return to manual counting of votes in succeeding elections in the country, noting that the shift to automated election system has been prone to fraud.
Former Australian Senator Lee Rhiannon said on Wednesday that the 2022 elections, for instance, denied Filipino voters access to a credible vote counting system, based on the observations of the International Observer Mission.
“The 2022 election failed to meet the international standard of a free, honest, and fair elections,” she said during the IOM’s launch for the upcoming midterm elections on May 12.
“The declared vote count was not credible because of the unbelievable speed in the transmission of election returns […] Voters were denied access to reliable information, denied access to voting places without intimidation, and denied a credible vote counting system,” Rhiannon added.
Among the recommendations of the IOM based on its observations in the 2022 polls was the return to manual counting of votes.
“Vote counting machines should be replaced by manual counting with votes cast being published at the voting center before results are transmitted to provincial and national counting centers,” the former Australian lawmaker said.
Likewise, Philippine-based watchdog Kontra Daya said that reverting back to manual counting of votes would allow more transparency in the results.
“When you engage in manual voting and counting, of course, the process will be slower. But the process of counting the ballots can be carefully monitored by election watchdogs and other concerned citizens. It’s not as fast as the electronic transmission but at least we are more or less sure of the votes,” said Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao.
But Arao admitted that regardless of what system will be adopted for the election, it will still be prone to fraud, thus the need for vigilance.
“Is it free from fraud? Not necessarily because our experience with manual counting before the automated system was implemented in 2010 would show that there were instances of ballot switching, ballot snatching, and sometimes tampering of the physical ballots,” he said.
“We have to remember that the promise of fraud-free elections as a result of the adoption of the automated system has not been fulfilled …. So there are no guarantees in whatever system we adopt. So we still need to be very vigilant,” Arao added.
Rhiannon will serve as the commissioner for the IOM in this year’s midterm elections in the Philippines.
Observers from the IOM will monitor election-related violence, fraud, red-tagging, and vote buying.
They will also monitor possible disinformation tactics on mainstream and digital platforms, and violations of international human rights law.
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