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Election watchdogs call for rejection of Smartmatic's PCOS machines

from NAMFREL Election Monitor Vol.2, No.9

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The Automated Election System (AES) Watch strongly urged not to re-use the Smartmatic -TIM provided PCOS technology in the forthcoming Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and in future elections because of the technology’s non-compliance with legal requirements, lack of safeguards, unresolved issues and technological difficulties it had brought in and after the May 10, 2010 national and local elections. The AESWatch, of which Namfrel is a member, is composed of 40 non-partisan and independent election monitoring
and civil society organizations and the academe.

In a statement released May 6, the AESWatch seeks that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee (JCOC) consider reverting to the manual system in the upcoming ARMM elections as issues with the PCOS technology are not yet resolved. It also reiterated its call for the disclosure of election documents requested since last year with the election management body and comply with the Supreme Court ordering the release of these public documents.
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Furthermore, the AES Watch appealed for support from Filipino IT experts to be engaged and to participate in the automation of the election process to ensure a more transparent and accountable elections. A national Filipino IT (FIT) conference will also be held in June with the end goal of arriving at new election technologies and strategic models more suitable to Philippine conditions. The IT community also advocates for their participation in presenting technologies that can be used in automating elections. It also requested the election body to review its policy of outsourcing election technology to foreign companies.

Earlier, Namfrel cited in its January 2010 newsletter that the reuse of the PCOS technology violates the principle of transparency and competitiveness in government procurement as guaranteed by the Oversight Committee review and the Procurement Law.

Read the AESWatch May 6 joint statement here:
http://scr.bi/lLcWwe

 
 
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