Friday June 19, 2009

Concerns raised over automated poll in Philippines

By Manny Mogato

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines has embarked on an ambitious $150 million plan to automate presidential elections next year, giving it a result within two days of voting instead of the weeks it takes currently.

Philippines' President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Tokyo June 19, 2009. The Philippines has embarked on an ambitious $150 million plan to automate presidential elections next year, giving it a result within two days of voting instead of the weeks it takes currently. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)

Politicians and analysts are, however, casting serious doubt over the automated process. Many fear chaos due to potential machine breakdown and delays in result transmission, which could lead to a failed election and a political limbo.

"With the many unknowns in automation, the (failed election) scenario is a very legitimate concern especially in today's political climate," Teodoro Casino, a member of a left-wing party in the lower house of Congress, told Reuters.

"It's not just the problem with the technology. You also have an administration that wants to remain in power and is capable of disrupting the elections just to remain in power."

About 50 million people are expected to vote at 350,000 precincts next May to elect a president, vice president, nearly 300 members of the two-chamber legislature and more than 17,000 local government officials through the as yet-untested automated system.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is not eligible to contest under constitutionally set term limits for elected officials. Critics accuse her and her allies of trying to amend the constitution to remove those limits, but no change in the law has yet come about.

Unlike in past elections when counting and tallying of votes was done manually, taking almost 4-5 weeks to determine results at the national level, the Philippines' Commission on Elections is promising results in only 36 hours under the new system.

Because of suspicions Arroyo plans to cling to power, her critics say the automated election could somehow be twisted to work in her favour.

"We're naturally worried about it," Gilbert Remulla, a former congressman and a spokesman of the small Nacionalista Party, told Reuters, adding that automated voting on a massive scale has never been tested.

"We don't know if it would be accurate. If there's a failure of elections, these are things that are beyond our control."

BACKUP SYSTEM

With less than a year before the elections and given the size and magnitude of the process, analysts also doubted whether the automated system could be deployed effectively and efficiently.

"Just from the technical perspective, clearly this is a large challenge to roll out these many machines in these many precincts as quickly as possible," said Pete Troilo of consultancy group Pacific Strategies and Assessments.

Troilo said there remain a lot of questions on the technical and financial capability of the Barbados-based company that won the $150 million contract to supply 82,200 counting machines to be used in next year's election.

"I am not sure that particular system had been rolled out in a major election," he said, adding that past regional elections in the Philippines where automation was used deployed a different kind of machine and technology.

Jose Melo, the head of the election commission, said at the end of the day everything boiled down to counting ballots.

He said if there were machine breakdowns or other technical problems in the counting of votes and transmission of results manual counting could always be resorted to.

"I personally don't expect any trouble," Melo told reporters.

"Failure will not be because of the machines. It will be because of men. If there is some sort of ballot snatching or armed clash, that is where there will be failure of elections in that particular area. But, I don't think it can happen nationwide."

James Jimenez, the poll body spokesman, said the commission had asked for extra machines and hundreds of technicians to assist election officers on the actual day of elections.

"We're prepared for any malfunctions and we don't expect all 80,000 machines to fail at the same time," he said, adding officials have anticipated all possible technical problems related to the use of the voting machines.

"Machines or no machines, there are ballots to be counted next year," he added.

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