Pre-election assessment by the National Democratic Institute

“There is (still) a high level of uncertainty (in the automated elections) and it is incumbent on the Comelec to qualify the automated elections (procedure) and the manual count (as contingency measure) to be accepted,” said Jamie Metzl, one of the delegation members of the National Democratic Institute (NDI). The Philippine Pre-Election Assessment Mission of the National Democratic Institute presented their findings and recommendations during a press briefing today.

Mr. Sam Gejdenson, a member of the U.S. Congress for 20 years from Connecticut; Ms. Nora Owen, former Justice minister of Ireland; Ms. Sue Wood, former head of the National Party of New Zealand; Mr. Jamie Metzl, executive vice president of the Asia Society; and Mr. Tom Barry, deputy regional director for Asia of NDI comprised the Philippine delegation where they consulted with 30 organizations in 27 meetings and even met with journalists including Blog Watch.

I conveyed the anxiety towards the automated election system, the distrust towards the Commission of Elections (Comelec) and the general sentiments of friends and readers of my blog towards the current administration . The delegation in their statement added their findings that “suspicions and lack of trust among the political competitors and toward authorities, combined with insufficient inclusiveness and transparency, have inhibited public confidence in the elections and generated anxiety about the automated election system,”

They presented their findings on the political environment and the electoral process..

Political Environment

Parties- The amount of open public discourse is both welcome and unprecendented.
Civil Society- The delegation was impressed by the role being played by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the run-up to elections. NGOs have evolved beyond election monitoring to play a role in advocating for greater transparency and information dissemination to every aspect of the electoral process
Government security agencies- The delegation was impressed by the openness of the Philippine Anti Private Army Commission (PAAC) which included Catholic and Muslim leaders, former or current military, police and judicial officials, along with a media representative.

Electoral Process

Automation- a rigorous verification of electronic voting technology is needed in the immediate post-election period. This will contribute to public confidence in the voting system and help to identify problem areas for improvement.
Random Manual Audit (RMA)- Everyone with whom the delegation met identified the safeguard provided by an RMA as central to ensuring the integrity of the vote tabulation. Regrettably, the Comelec has not yet issued guidelines to implement the RMA provision of the law.
Ballot Design- Comelec ruled one candidate ineligible. However, this candidate remains on the ballot. Inclusion of this candidate has led other candidates to allege that this will cause voter confusion
Voter Education- While the delegation does not wish to underestimate the enormity of the myriad tasks facing the Comelec on extensive voter education, a major effort is required to avoid confusion and related problems on election day.
Infrastructure Challenges- numerous questions have been brought to the attention of the delegation concerning the adequacy of the telecommunications network needed to transmit polling place results
Campaign Financing - civil society organizations and the news media have gathered and widely distributed information about campaign expenditures by candidates for national office.
Nonpartisan domestic monitoring - Regrettably, after two decades of successful acceptance of this practice, a recent decision by the Comelec concerning the registration of the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) has introduced to a level of controversy to election monitoring.

While other citizen organizations have or may be registered by the Comelec, the exclusion of the country’s most well-known domestic monitoring organization was viewed with concern by the delegation. It is essential to protect and promote the rights of citizens to associate and to seek, receive and impart information about the election process, which should not be unreasonable restricted.

The delegation then offered a series of recommendations that it hoped would be helpful in promoting inclusive, transparent and credible elections. They included urging:

The Commission on Elections to undertake a major effort to bolster public confidence in the automated system and the impartiality of its decisions;
That random manual audits should be undertaken using a large enough sample of electronic voting machines to assure public confidence in the automated system at the national level;
The armed forces of the Philippines and the Philippines National Police to do all they can to support the integrity of the electoral process and the sanctity of the ballot, as well as bolster the safety of members of the news media;
Robust and widespread public participation in nonpartisan citizen monitoring of elections;
The government of the Philippines to mobilize all of its resources to educate the public about balloting procedures and the new automated system; and
The election commission to make available on the Internet and in other forms the information currently available on campaign expenditures before the election.

The NDI believes that there is still time for all participants to take appropriate steps to achieve democratic elections in May 10, 2010. Concerted efforts are required to increase transparency, build in needed safeguards, heighten security and develop public trust in the process. Any delays in the conduct of public dialogues will lead to speculations that the Comelec is “unwilling to consider public opinion or allow sufficient time for debate.” to rank the election preparations of the Comelec, the NDI delegates gave the Comelec a grade of “needs improvement,” owing to the lack of information and lack of dialogue with major stakeholders.

In an environment with a history of election irregularities, it is essential that the Comelec undertake a major effort to bolster public confidence in the new Automated Election System and the impartiality of its decision. The NDI stressed that "it is not about the equipment…it’s about the country and its people and everybody has to do his part to make the process work." Comelec needs to take action now and conduct those public dialogues and even involve civil society to take some aspects of voter education. We, the citizenry need to continue on in our vigilance in monitoring the electoral process, educating ourselves, help foster discussions of platforms, encourage a healthy debate of issues, raise the level of intellectual discourse and analysis.

The work of the delegation was based on the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation, launched at the United Nations in 2005 and endorsed by NDI and 35 other international and intergovernmental organizations. You can download their statement here and the video of the press briefing.