Comelec urged to prepare for 2013

MANILA, Philippines - To ensure that the next automated elections in 2013 will be better than the May 2010 presidential polls, a poll watchdog advised the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to start preparations three years early.

Roan Libarios, convenor of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente), said the Comelec should be undertaking the necessary preparations for the 2013 elections by this time.

“Until now, automation is not fully understood in this country. While everybody agrees on the imperatives of an automated election, not all people understand its working mechanism or details,” Libarios said.

Libarios said the Comelec must particularly educate the public on the automated election so that the voters are not kept in the dark regarding the system.

“If we were to automate future elections, we have to press for the adoption of a transparent automated electoral process so that our people and all those contending forces would have a firm grasp and understanding of its dynamics and mechanism,” added Libarios.

He said transparency in the automated electoral process would also prevent a procedural lapse, where election lawyers are ignorant of the technical aspects of the system.

The Comelec must also properly address the problem in the management of polling centers, Libarios said.

“If we were to make the next automated elections successful, we have to press Comelec for the adoption of an appropriate management of all those polling precincts. We have to avoid the ungodly sight of voters forming long lines under a boiling sun,” Libarios said.

Proper management system of polling precincts would prevent disenfranchisement of voters, he said.

Libarios further stressed the need for the creation of a healthy working environment and relationship among Comelec, citizens’ watch organizations, the mass media, and other institutions and sectors in the next polls.