MANILA, Philippines — Amid reports of problems with vote counting machines, President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday the Commission on Elections should be given a chance to explain ahead of any probes into reported glitches and errors.
Speaking to reporters after casting his vote in Davao City, Duterte said it would be “early” to start an investigation into the reported glitches, adding that he respects the Comelec as a constitutionally independent body.
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“Comelec is an independent body and if there’s any malfunction there or aberration at all in the procedure or the process of the conduct of the election, let Comelec explain first to the people before we even initiate a sort of an investigation,” Duterte said.
“That is in recognizance of the separation of powers of our independent organizations,” he added.
Comelec is a constitutional commission, making it an independent and fiscally-autonomous agency.
In a statement, the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente)—the lead convenor of the manual audit for the polls—noted that while most poll precincts across the country opened on time at 6 a.m. There were delays recorded in some places.
There were already around 400 to 600 cases of malfunctioning vote counting machines as of early afternoon of midterm election day in the Philippines, the Comelec said.
These make at least a 220% increase from the last elections in 2016 when 125 counting machines encountered problems.
Meanwhile, multiple reports also said authorities had received a "massive"’ number of vote-buying complaints.
Filipinos are electing 12 members of the 24-seat Senate, the entire House of Representatives, as well as the country's governors and vice governors, provincial board members, mayors and vice mayors, and councilors — Ian Nicolas Cigaral with reports from Kristine Joy Patag and Luisa Morales