MANILA, Philippines—#HalalanDayaan2019 has been the top trending topic on Twitter in the country following news of unofficial election results.
The hashtag, which suggests that the May 13 general elections was rigged, has been in the number 1 spot since 0.4% of results were transmitted at 6:15 p.m. on Monday.
After the first transmission, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) experienced a delay in transmitting results due to issues with its transparency server.
Only after 7 hours, at around 1 a.m., that a fresh information was sent again. As of 10:10 a.m. Tuesday, 94.08% of data has been transmitted.
Unofficial results reveal that in the senatorial race, no opposition candidate has been able to break into the top 12. Majority of winning candidates are allies of President Rodrigo Duterte.
On Twitter, netizens lamented the results using the trending hashtag.
Twitter user @dubuddubu said today in a viral tweet: “The fact that the most deserving candidates are at the bottom frustrates me so much.”
The tweet shared pictures of senatorial candidates Neri Colmenares, Samira Gutoc, Chel Diokno and Leody De Guzman.
https://twitter.com/dubuddubu/status/1128015384311820289
Singer Leah Navarro, who supported opposition candidates, questioned the authenticity of the results via her Twitter messages. “Are those counts genuine? How does anyone know? The reason it’s called a ‘transparency server’ is clear, but it’s going offline for hours is very unclear, and suspicious. @COMELEC needs to explain why this could be #HalalanDayaan2019.”
Are those counts genuine? How does anyone know? The reason it’s called a ‘transparency server’ is clear, but it’s going offline for hours is very unclear, and suspicious. @COMELEC needs to explain why this could be #HalalanDayaan2019.
— Leah Navarro (@leahnavarro) May 13, 2019
Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon countered cheating allegations, explaining today that the glitch was due to the malfunction of data packets coming from the transparency server.
Comelec Commissioners Marlon Casquejo and Luie Tito Guia will explain details of the glitch at a press briefing around 1 p.m. today at the PICC Forum. (Editor: Jonathan P. Vicente)
READ: Comelec allays fear of ‘cheating’ after transparency server glitch