Namfrel gears up for May 2019 elections

MANILA, Philippines — Exactly 18 days before the May elections, the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) has already started preparing to help ensure a clean and honest election.

In a press briefing Thursday, Namfrel Secretary-General Eric Alvia said the poll watchdog has already alerted their chapters nationwide as more than 61 million registered voters are expected to flock to their respective precincts come May 13.

“We’ve just finished our national assembly. We’ve already organized our chapters again. We’ve (also) instructed them of the task ahead,” Alvia said.

“As much as possible we’ll try to cover all the clustered precincts,” he added.

Alvia also noted that they are targeting to utilize around 40 to 50 thousand volunteers for the elections.

For this May polls, Namfrel, which has monitored and observed elections for decades now, said it it will focus on three main projects, namely: the monitoring of the automated election system, observing the Commission on Election’s (Comelec) random manual audit, and implementing an open election data website to increase the transparency of election results.

However, the Comelec has yet to act on Namfrel’s request to establish and maintain an open election data website.

Establishing the website will mean seeking for data connection to the election commission. /je

READ: Namfrel awaits Comelec accreditation of ‘Open Election Data’ project