Gabriela Women’s Party Calls for Investigation into Vote Count Discrepancy
Gabriela Women’s Party-list has formally requested the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to investigate an alleged vote count discrepancy during the midterm elections held last May 12. The pro-women group claimed their vote tally mysteriously dropped, raising concerns about the integrity of the election process.
“On May 12, 2025, as the National Elections commenced, votes were cast and promptly began to be tallied and ranked. At 2:03 AM, the Gabriela Women’s Party had garnered 252,562 votes, according to data from COMELEC’s transparency media server. However, by 2:20 AM, this number had inexplicably decreased by 49,614 votes,” the party said in its letter to Comelec chairperson George Garcia, attaching a screenshot of the count.
They emphasized that this unexplained drop in votes threatens the transparency and fairness of the electoral process. “If votes for a sectoral party representing women and other vulnerable sectors can simply vanish without explanation, it risks disenfranchising not only the candidates but the countless women and marginalized communities whose voices they seek to represent,” the letter added.
Comelec Responds to Vote Count Discrepancy Concerns
Comelec addressed the reported vote count discrepancy by explaining that entities receiving election returns (ERs), including media groups, should use software programs to clean data and avoid duplication during consolidation.
Chairperson Garcia clarified, “Sumobra, sabi ng 5 million. Sapagkat hindi nagkaroon ng sinasabing program para malinis ang nadodoble as a result of processing. Walang dagdag-bawas na nangyari. Ang pagbabasehan niyo lagi kasi… ‘yung Comelec website na nilalabas namin kasi ang Comelec website walang interruption. Tuloy-tuloy na nangyayari.”
(They say there was an excess of 5 million votes. This happened because no program was in place to clean the duplicate data as a result of the processing. There was no vote shaving, vote padding that happened. You should always base your numbers on… the Comelec website because we don’t have any interruption. Our operations are continuous.)
Technical Issues Behind Vote Count Discrepancy
Earlier reports revealed that partial, unofficial results from the Comelec media server showed a decrease in votes even as election returns increased. Media outlets discovered that transmissions sent by precincts were duplicated during consolidation on the Comelec server.
An anonymous election official suggested the discrepancy might stem from the aggregation tool used, explaining there was a possibility that data from Comelec piled up, causing irregularities in the tally.
Gabriela Women’s Party Demands Manual Vote Count
Aside from the election-related issues, Gabriela also highlighted ongoing red-tagging and attacks against its members, leaders, and supporters throughout the campaign period.
“The Gabriela Women’s Party urgently calls on the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to thoroughly investigate these matters and ensure the accuracy and security of transmitted electoral data. GWP also strongly demands the initiation of a manual vote count to verify and uphold the sanctity of the people’s vote,” the party asserted.
They added, “The women who rely on GWP to advocate for their rights in Congress must not be silenced by system errors and targeted attacks.” The letter was signed by party representative Arlene Brosas and first nominee Sarah Jane Elago.
For more updates on election integrity and related issues, visit Filipinokami.com.