ARMM election roundup

PCIJ: Some notes on the ARMM elections

Of the voting population, there are 108,000 double registrants discovered during the registration/validation process conducted in the first phase of the modernization program last year. This corresponds to more than 10 percent of the total registered voters, significant enough to influence the outcome of the polls.

Abalos says these double registrants have already been purged from the voters’ lists. But the fact that the lists were only posted on June 27, or 42 days before today’s elections, meant that there was not enough time to challenge the authenticity of the registrations. The law provides that the lists be posted no less than 60 days from the date of the election primarily for that purpose.

Oh lordy.

And this doesn't look good. Yikes.

Abante has this report:

Ayon kay Senate minority floorleader Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr., naging bingi at bulag si Mrs. Arroyo sa reklamo ng iba’t ibang sektor, katulad ang panawagang kanselahin ang ARMM election dahil sa kabiguan ng Commission on Elections (Comelec) na linisin ang listahan ng mga botante.

Ilan lamang sa umatras bilang kandidato sa pagka-gobernador ng ARMM sina outgoing Governor Parouk Hussin, House Deputy Speaker at Basilan Cong. Gerry Salapudin at ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly Speaker Hattamil Hassan, kaakibat ang reklamo sa liderato ni Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos.

Mismong kaalyado ni Mrs. Arroyo, katulad nina Hussin, Salapudin at Hassan, ayon kay Pimentel ang walang tiwala sa Comelec at ikinatakot nitong magiging marumi ang gaganaping eleksyon ngayong araw.

Samantala, maliban sa National Movement for Free Election (Namfrel) na nagrereklamo sa pagkakaroon ng 100,000 flying voters ay idinaing din ito ng Muslim political leaders, negosyante at iba pang non-government organizations (NGOs) dito.

Maliban sa mga kaalyado ni Mrs. Arroyo, umatras din ang mga kandidatong kumakatawan sa Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) na naunang nagbalik-loob sa pamahalaan at nagbantang iboboykot ang ARMM election.

Ayon kay Pimentel, ang pag-atras ng MNLF sa ARMM election ay dahil sa kawalan ng suporta ni Mrs. Arroyo sa malaking paglabag sa nilagdaang 1996 peace agreement sa pagitan ng gobyerno at maaaring makarating sa Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

"The MNLF disenchantment with the handling of the ARMM election has provided another reason for the rebel group accusation that the government has reneged on its commitment under the peace agreement which it has brought to the attention of the OIC," pangamba ni Pimentel.

Kaugnay nito, aminado naman ang Comelec na isang mabigat na hamon para sa kanila ang halalan matapos ang kontrobersyang kinasasangkutan ni dating Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

Hindi lang buong bansa ang nakatutok sa Comelec sa pangangasiwa nila ng halalan sa ARMM kundi maging ang buong bansa na sasaksi sa eleksyon.(Rey Marfil)

What a disaster. Read this editorial too.

UPDATE: More PCIJ stuff on the wrecked institution that is the COMELEC here...

and here.

TO DESTROY an institution like the Commission on Elections (Comelec), you must first fill it up with handpicked commissioners with questionable credentials and even more dubious impartiality. Then, let them run the constitutional body as if they were ruling over personal fiefdoms. This would then reduce middle-level bureaucrats to mere vassals doing — or forced to do — their every bidding, including perhaps, as the taped conversations involving President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano suggest, rigging the elections in their political benefactor's favor.