Int’l observers satisfied with polls

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign observers expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the second automated elections yesterday.

They saw as important the quick response of the government and stakeholders to old and new election problems.

Trevor Lewis, an observer from the British embassy, visited the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) operations center.

He said the problems involving some of the 78,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines were actually expected, if not inevitable.

“There were indeed malfunctions in some of the machines, but what we did see is that there’s a lot of people working together to fix these problems,” he said. “They seem to have plans to make sure these problems would be fixed. We’ve been very happy with the process so far.” 

Another observer from the British embassy, Thomas Phipps, agreed.

Phipps was assigned to observe the polls in Maguindanao.

He saw some flaws in the conduct of election in Dulumanggo town, but believes it must still be determined whether they were mere errors or deliberately done.

Phipps said they were happy with the voter turnout.