MANILA — Less than a year into the 2019 midterm elections and amid rumors of a so-called “no election” scenario, election watchdog Democracy Watch expressed support for President Rodrigo Duterte’s assurance of a “clean and orderly” polls.
Citing the great strides introduced by the switch to the Automated Election System in the past three elections, the country can ill afford to go back to how things were, Democracy Watch Secretary General Claudette Guevara said in a statement Tuesday.
“Transparency is a key principle in ensuring credible elections, as it helps establish trust and confidence in the process by guaranteeing that the results reflect the true will of the people,” Guevara said.
The 2016 elections, she noted, was widely believed to be the most credible in recent memory. Such view, she said, was attested by nationwide opinion polls and accounts of foreign observers.
In a Pulse Asia survey conducted after the polls, more than 90 percent of respondents believed that the conduct of the exercise was fast, orderly, and peaceful.
By election night, some 86 percent of all votes had been transmitted. This, Guevara said, was something that was unheard of in the history of Philippine elections long marred by cheating and sluggishness.
“(In) May 2016, the world saw more than 44 million Filipinos troop to their respective polling precincts and made their voices heard through a process that has long been a cornerstone of our democracy. The faster conduct resulted in less instability and greater confidence in the process,” Guevara said.
Democracy Watch said a way to improve the polls even more is to invest in the retooling and building of an adequate information technology infrastructure and developing the human resources for the Commission on Elections, so it could fulfill its mandate.
“Such investments are also investments in our political stability,” Guevara said. (PR/PNA)
