CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – “Our first impression is the election is quite peaceful,” said Daniel Mann of Germany, spokesman of a team of foreign election observers at the Benigno Aquino Hall here where the Provincial Board of Canvassers is convened.
Mann said they visited nine areas in the province and observed the elections in 10 precincts on elections day last Monday.
“We already made some observations which we will have to discuss back in Manila,” said Mann noting that issues mostly like the secrecy of ballots, malfunctioning PCOS machines, the general conduct of the elections, the procedures being followed by the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) as well as the behavior of voters will be discussed.
Mann said his eight-man team noted that “ballots are being filled up openly and the secrecy folders are very small and nobody can really cover them from the eyes of the watchers.”
“We are also observing the BEI and the procedures and also the voters’ behavior which we think is also critical as well as the functions of the PCOS machines,” he said.
Mann said in the place where they visited, “we noted that three (PCOS machines) were not functioning and it took two to five hours before they were repaired.”
“This is also an issue because they were collecting the ballots and feeding them later to the PCOS,” he said.
“It’s very hard to have control and this is not according to protocol,” he noted.
“Then there is also an issue with the transmission (of the election results),” he added.
Mann said they will have to wait for their collective overall assessment before they can make a definite statement on the integrity of the polls.
Mann, a lecturer at Germany’s Wurzburg University, said this is the first international mission for him.
More than 30 foreign observers from different countries monitored Monday’s midterm elections.
Organized by the Compact for Peaceful and Democratic Elections (Compact), the foreign observers were scattered all over the country with nine of them led by Mann observing the elections in Pampanga.
Foreign observer notes peaceful pollsThe observers come from Sweden, Denmark, the United States, Japan, Australia, Germany, Spain, Burma, The Netherlands, Thailand, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Compact national coordinator Arnold Tarrobago said the observers were divided into six teams and deployed to Cagayan, Pampanga, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Cebu and the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao.
Tarrobago also noted that certain “iconic” electoral contests also drew the interest of the foreign observers.
He said among these is the gubernatorial race between Eddie “Among Ed” Panlilio and Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda in Pampanga.
Compact said that the international observers are on a 10-day mission.
Compact’s 2013 national conveners include: Ramon Casiple of the Institute of Political and Electoral Reform; Joy Aceron of the Ateneo School of Government; Gladstone Cuarteros of the La Salle Justice and Peace Commission; Pastor Al Senturias of the Cosmopolitan Church; Robert Francis Garcia of the Peace Advocates for Truth, Justice and Healing; Earl Parreno of the Social Enterprise Empowerment for Rural Development; lawyer Zainuddin Malang of the Mindanao Human Rights Action Center; Roberto Verzola of SRI-Pilipinas Network; Ruevin Serrano of the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines, and Geline Avila of Compact 2010.
