Has the Country Achieved a Clean, Honest, and Democratic Elections?

MANILA - Despite the long queues and the glitches of some PCOS machines, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is all too happy that the first automated elections pushed through without the failure of elections, the no proclamation, or massive disenfranchisement scenarios being predicted by election watchdogs and government critics. By 10 p.m. of May 10, Comelec Chairman Jose Melo could barely conceal the smile on his face when he was reading out the unofficial tabulated election results, a mere three hours after voting precincts have been declared officially closed. The day after, on May 11, the Comelec began declaring the winners of local elections and presidential candidates have been conceding defeat to Noynoy Aquino. By May 12, the Comelec announced that less than four percent of election results have yet to be transmitted.

This is definitely faster than previous elections. The transmission of results in a precinct takes a mere one to three minutes each for the three recipients. Not only are the tabulation and transmission of results fast, it is also smoother. Gone are the days when poll watchers used to crowd teachers who were reading the votes one ballot at a time and tallying the results on the board. In fact, the task of poll watchers has become boring. Also, the tension in precincts arising from strong and even violent reactions of losing candidates after all votes have been tallied has become a thing of the past.

However, the elections are far from being flawless, even if we do not consider the long queues. First, cheating through the infamous dagdag-bawas or vote padding-vote shaving could still happen during canvassing at the municipal, provincial, and national levels, especially if the difference in votes between two or more contending candidates is not that big. This is why vice presidential candidate Jejomar Binay is warning about the probability of him being cheated during canvassing. Cheats do not care if there are discrepancies between the tally of votes in all the precincts and the results of the canvassing at the municipal level; or if there are discrepancies between the certificates of canvass at the municipal level and that of the provincial level up to the national level. Former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano was caught on tape assuring Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that everything could be fixed during the canvassing of votes. Also, in 2007, the number of party-list votes in Maguindanao and the rest of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao exceeded the number of registered voters.