Despite legal squabble, it’s all systems go for 2013 automated polls

It’s all systems go for the 2013 automated elections despite the legal dispute between Smartmatic International Corp. and its subcontractor Dominion Voting Systems International Corp.

Smartmatic Asia president Cesar Flores said although the case is still under litigation, it would not affect Smartmatic’s obligation to provide the Commission on Elections (Comelec) with a working and compliant technology for the midterm polls.

“We are 100 percent committed to that. Smartmatic is fully capable of providing all support to Comelec and all customers, regardless of any rifts with any of its providers,” Flores said in a statement.

He compared Smartmatic’s case to the business squabble between Samsung and Apple where users of Samsung did not suffer from disruption of services despite the lawsuit.

Smartmatic said its complaint against Dominion had no bearing on Comelec’s legal ownership and control of the elections system itself.

“We would do nothing to jeopardize the holding of legitimate transparent elections within the Philippines. We assure the public that this rift will not result in Comelec being constrained in any way as to its use of the automated systems that they now own, and that the independent testing and verification of that system, now underway, will further demonstrate the technical integrity of the system, as required under Philippine laws,” it added.

Smartmatic said it would provide about 40 “enhancements” for the 82,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, which were used in the 2010 presidential polls, in time for next year’s electoral exercise.