Groups slam ‘massive’ poll fraud, call for scrapping of PCOS machines in 2016
Public and private sector workers under Koalisyon ng Progresibong Manggagawa at Mamamayan (KPMM) marched to Mendiola to show their anger at the “massive” election cheating in the election, allegedly controlled by President Aquino through the Commission on Elections (Comelec). The group claimed that the result of the 2013 mid-term election confirms their fears that widespread […]
Public and private sector workers under Koalisyon ng Progresibong Manggagawa at Mamamayan (KPMM) marched to Mendiola to show their anger at the “massive” election cheating in the election, allegedly controlled by President Aquino through the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
The group claimed that the result of the 2013 mid-term election confirms their fears that widespread fraud was carried out through the Automated Election System (AES).
“Automation did not end fraud, which has characterized Philippine elections in the past. It has merely made fraud more widespread and difficult to track,” said Sammy Malunes, KPMM spokesperson.
Malunes alleged that automation enabled the government to carry out wholesale fraud and pre-programmed the election result in favor of Aquinos’ allies. “It (automated elections) was imposed by the government despite the fact that it has been rejected by many countries,” Malunes said.
Aside from KPMM, the progressive bloc in Congress is also calling for the junking of Smartmatic’s PCOS machines. Seven party-list
representatives under Makabayan Coalition vow to press for a congressional investigation regarding the alleged removal of key safeguards including the source code review, the massive glitches and transmission failures of PCOS machines.
Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said they will file bills after the 16th Congress’ opening to investigate the alleged fraudelent 2013 election. The investigation will include the 60-30-10 votes pattern, discrepancies found on random manual audits and other violations of automated elections laws.
“We have to get to the bottom of this. All efforts must be exhausted to find out if the automated election system was used for electoral fraud. What we are sure about is that the faulty precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine must be scrapped and never be again used for the elections,” Colmenares said.
Supporting the move of Makabayan, Malunes said they welcome efforts to invetigate the recent election. “It should be investigated through various means, and poll officials and the Aquino government should be held accountable,” he said.
“It is high time that the government face such criticisms and ensure that the next election will have enough safeguards,” Colmenares quipped.
