Comelec wants early 2010 polls in ARMM (Letting the region vote ahead of the rest of the country can prevent violence, fraud)

Written by Lilita Balane
Wednesday, 25 November 2009


Due to the poll-related violence that has claimed 50 lives so far, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is renewing its call to hold elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) ahead of the rest of the country in 2010. The purpose is apparently for the government to focus security details and poll-monitoring efforts on the traditional election hotbed.

"From the very start, we have been batting for [early voting in] the ARMM. Para mauna sila (so they will go first), so that they can concentrate the police and military forces there, to ensure peace and order. But we need a law on that," Comelec chair Jose Melo said on Tuesday.

There are 2 pending bills in Congress seeking to put in place a system of early voting, but nationwide. The bills by Senator Richard Gordon and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez seek to allow voting several days before election day, just like how it's done in the United States.

Melo is backing the bills, but prefers that it be limited to the ARMM only. Comelec believes that if poll resources and police forces are concentrated in the region, fraud and violence can be avoided. If Melo had his way, he wants early voting to start 1 month before the elections.

Gordon's Senate Bill 2972, which was filed in 2008, proposes that voting start 10 days before the May 10 elections. The bill tasks the Comelec to put a polling precinct in each municipality. This is limited to voters who will not be in their respective polling precincts on election day, like poll workers, police, or teachers. It also seeks to extend voting hours, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m, to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Embargoed count

Rodriguez's House Bill 5578 gives the Comelec leeway to set the early voting period. It seeks to help cut the long lines of voters and reduce the number of poll workers needed. The bill allots P1 billion of the national budget for the implementation of the early elections.

Both bill aims to increase voters participation as well as help overworked poll workers from making mistakes.

While the election code indicates that counting of the votes should be done immediately after the voting, Gordon proposes that the ballots in the early voting should be counted on May 10, along with the votes cast around the country.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said that, in case early voting in ARMM would push through, the votes cast will be embargoed until the counting in May 10.

During elections, many areas in the ARMM declare failure of elections because of alleged cheating or violence between political rivals. Comelec, when there are failure of elections, is compelled to conduct special polls in the affected areas.

In the 2007 elections, both Senator Miguel Zubiri and losing candidate Aquilino 'Koko' Pimentel III challenged the 2007 senatorial race results in Maguindanao province claiming they were cheated. Zubiri won by 18,000 votes against Pimentel.

In the same elections, the Comelec declared two failed elections in the towns of Akbar and Sumisip because of poll-related violence. (Newsbreak)


Source: http://newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7140&Itemid=88889051