Poll watchdog Kontra Daya, groups show dismay over 2025 midterm elections

Various poll watchdogs and sectoral groups, headed by Kontra Daya, staged a protest at Roxas Boulevard, Manila, a day after the election. 

Calling the attention of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and its Commissioner George Garcia, demonstrators expressed their disappointment over the commission’s mishandling of the polling proper last May 12, including issues of Automated Counting Machines (ACMs), irregularities during the voting, and transparency on vote counting.

According to Kontra Daya convenor, Dr. Danilo Arao, the commission should be held accountable for its deficiency during the election, uttering that their responses are lame excuses, and instead putting the blame on the voters for their incompetence.

“Kailangan talagang managot ng Comelec sa mga pagkukulang nito, hindi sapat ‘yong mga paliwanag nila na tila nagpapalusot at sinisisi pa ‘yong mga botante doon sa mga aberyang nangyari sa halalan,” Arao said.

Additionally, in the final report of another poll watchdog, Vote Report PH, ACM-related issues topped the violations they received, comprising 50.9% of their total report of 6,064, with 1,593 verified. Some ACM problems include ink smudging, oversensitive scanners, and numerous incidents of accidental “overvoting” due to ink blotting.

As per the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) count, 35,251,161 overvotes were documented from distinct precincts and positions nationwide, with more than 17 million votes invalidated in the senatorial votes , and almost half a million for members of the Congress. 

Moreover, Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU) called out the discrepancy and unmatched source code version of Comelec during the final testing and sealing of ACMs, and those documented in the official source code audit report.

CPU pointed out the differences in the available Comelec audit report, which indicated that version 3.4.0 with a hash code starting with 3AD9 and version 3.5.0 software with a hash code beginning with 0438 were installed on the ACMs for the final testing and sealing.

The CPU worries that a different system version could mean that possible changes were inserted into the source code, affecting its entire functionality, which could alter the election results. 

“Regardless of the reasons Comelec provides, this development completely undermines the whole process of transparency and accountability set up by the Comelec itself, and raises questions about the integrity of the entire electoral process,” the unions’ statement for the unparalleled ACM. 

On the other hand, Arao also highlights the visible cases of red-tagging before and during the election, which is further certified by the data of Vote Report PH, which accounts for 54 incidents. Red-tagging is second to top election violations in the said report, comprising 22.37% as of May 12, 10:30 AM.

The mobilization of the different multi-sectoral groups pleads for a fair vote counting and accountability for the irregularities of the commission, that if not they will find ways to attain justice for the public.   

Article: Tim Lozano

Graphics: Kent Bicol