Watchdog plans protest action vs poll body

A MULTISECTORAL poll watchdog Sunday called on the public to flock to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Intramuros, Manila, on Tuesday to denounce the poll body’s continued defiance of a Supreme Court ruling to activate the voter verification feature of the vote-counting machines (VCMs).

Kontra Daya convenor Rick Bahague Jr. also railed against Comelec’s technology provider Smartmatic for floating the possibility of an election failure supposedly due to the limited time for the poll body to revamp its preparations to implement the high court’s ruling.

“Kontra Daya calls on the people to gather in front of Comelec tomorrow to protest its refusal to activate the voter verification feature of the VCMs despite a Supreme Court order,” Bahague said in a statement.

Kontra Daya also said it was vigorously protesting the Smartmatic’s threat of a failure of election due to the high court’s ruling.

“It has no right to tell Filipinos how to conduct elections in our country. Comelec and Smartmatic continue to undermine the credibility of the 2016 elections. In a very tight electoral contest, accuracy and trustworthiness of the system become all the more crucial,” Bahague said.

He also urged all political parties and candidates to join Kontra Daya in demanding the printing of the voter receipts and the holding of an honest review of the source code and of the canvassing system that will be used in the upcoming balloting.

The Comelec has scheduled a meeting today with political parties and representatives of election candidates to update them on its preparations for the forthcoming balloting and to explain the impact of the high court’s decision on its readiness for May 9.