ELECTION
FORENSICS 2007
News
Release No. 01
ELECTION
TURNOUT, LOWEST IN YEARS?
By
the Policy Study, Publication and Advocacy (PSPA)
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
No. 01 / May 15, 2007
The
voters’ turnout in the May 14 mid-term elections could be
the lowest in six years and this can be attributed largely to widespread
disenfranchisement of voters throughout the country.
Yesterday,
Comelec Chair Benjamin Abalos, Sr. estimated the turnout at 75 percent
nationwide but other reports showed a 65 percent turnout, a drop
compared to previous polls. Several precincts in the National Capital
Region have reported as low as 50 percent to 60 percent turnout.
If
this is the case, yesterday’s elections could be the lowest
in years, with 77 percent turnout in 2004 and 85 percent in 2001,
the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), an independent
political study group, found today in its first issue of “Election
Forensics 2007.”
Reports
of partial monitoring and documentation of yesterday’s elections
showed that possibly hundreds of thousands of voters were directly
disenfranchised with the names of many legitimate voters missing
in master lists or names found in other precincts. There were also
complaints of missing precincts, many master lists unreadable, delayed
opening of polling precincts, and of voting marked by long queues
thus preventing many voters from casting their ballots.
Other
voters experienced harassments not only from supporters of candidates
but also from military and police personnel. There were reports
of voters being forced to vote for certain party-list groups supported
by the government.
This
is the initial assessment made by CenPEG’s Policy Study, Publication
and Advocacy (PSPA) program based on reports it received from various
independent poll watch groups and news monitoring.
Among
others, the reports came from the nationwide Task Force Poll Watch
(TFPW) of Party-list groups, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible
Voting (PPCRV), Kontra Daya, monitoring by UP mass communication
student volunteers, foreign observers missions as well as partial
field reports from 30 provinces.
In
Baguio City, Quezon City, Manila, Caloocan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija
and other areas, many voters complained about their names missing
in master lists while groups of voters were harassed and prevented
from going to their precincts. Election-related tension and violence
in many provinces particularly in Mindanao discouraged many voters
from going to the polls, other reports said.
On
the other hand, many of 39 electoral fraud incidents reported partially
by the PPCRV involved disenfranchisement.
While
accounts about military interference on the scale that took place
in 2004 have yet to be received, there were reported incidents of
military and police forces involved in voters disenfranchisement
on election day. In at least two barangays in Guimba, Nueva Ecija
many voters were told by government soldiers not to vote for Bayan
Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela and to vote instead for Bantay party.
Bantay, said to be a creation of Malacañang, has former Brig.
Gen. Jovito Palparan, named by both state investigators and foreign
groups as accountable for several cases of extra-judicial killings,
as its first nominee. Similar incidents were also reported in Baguio,
Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Leyte, Albay, Sorsogon, the two Camarines
provinces, Eastern Samar and several provinces in Mindanao.
Spokespersons
of the groups fear that with results of voting in the Party-list
election remaining unaccounted for in quick counts 24 hours after
counting had begun, they could be vulnerable to cheating particularly
by pro-government operators.
At
this early, the cluster of voters who were unable to vote in the
mid-elections are the overseas absentee voters (OACs), with only
20 percent or 71,668 of about 504,110 registered overseas voters
able to exercise their right to vote.
With
recent surveys showing 70 percent of Filipinos predicting the occurrence
of massive fraud in the mid-term elections, there is a high probability
of an increasing number of the electorate staying away from the
polls. This pessimism and other factors would explain the possible
low turnout in yesterday’s polls.
CenPEG
is a public policy center set up shortly before the May 2004 elections
to help promote people empowerment in governance and democratic
representation of the marginalized poor in an elitist and patronage-driven
electoral and political system. It conducts research/policy study,
education and trainings on governance and people empowerment. To
pursue its programs in research and education-training, CenPEG taps
a wide pool of political analysts, public policy experts and academic
scholars for their expertise and experience in public governance
as well as in grassroots empowerment. |
