Namfrel Urges Comelec to Finish Count

MANILA, May, 20, 2010-Expressing concern on the poll body's slowdown in the counting of votes, the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) has urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to speed up and complete the count as soon as possible.

Only just about a little over 90% of the Election Returns have been tabulated by Comelec and PPCRV servers.

PPCRV, which halted its operations yesterday, said it has so far received 70,255 of the 76,475 election returns, which accounts for 92.02 percent of the grand total.

Namfrel noted that the remaining Election Returns represent 7,500 PCOS machines that have failed to transmit results or have bogged down in its operations.

The uncounted Election Returns are estimated to reach around 4.9 million votes.

"COMELEC and Smartmatic must immediately make a report to the public as to the status and locations of these PCOS machines and the steps being undertaken to count
the remaining uncounted ballots," Namfrel stated in a press release.

It also urged the poll body to make a complete inventory of all CF cards, including those recalled and replaced or reconfigured.

"COMELEC must not destroy any of the CF cards nor delete records from the canvassing process so that all files can be properly analyzed," the poll watchdog said. (CBCPNews)