Imee Marcos urges Comelec to select new election watchdog

MANILA, Philippines — To ensure clean and honest elections on May 13, Ilocos Norte governor and senatorial candidate Imee Marcos asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to allow a new independent poll watchdog with proven technical expertise in the use of automated election system (AES).

Marcos said the presence of technical experts in every polling precinct would help guarantee the integrity of the election and avoid a repeat of vote rigging and fraud that she alleged marred the 2016 automated polls.

“The new election watchdog should not only be keen on guarding forms of electoral fraud that we are all aware of even before we shifted to automated elections, but it must also have the technical expertise so we can be assured that the upcoming elections are free and fair,” she said.

Marcos, running for senator under the Nacionalista Party, underscored the need for Comelec to accredit a new election watchdog that is “non-partisan and has technical knowledge about automated elections.” 

She stressed having technical experts as watchdogs is an added guarantee that the votes are counted correctly and included in the election tally at the polling precinct level.

“Technical experts of the new election watchdog can easily determine and point out anomalies in the use of counting machines, and right then and there the concerned parties can act accordingly and have the issue settled even while at the precinct level,” she said. 

Marcos cited the case of her brother, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, whose electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo is still being heard at Presidential Electoral Tribunal almost three years after the last polls.

Bongbong alleged the results of the 2016 polls were rigged in favor of Robredo.