PH hailed as first Asean country to implement fully automated polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has said that the Philippines is the only country in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to hold fully automated elections on a nationwide scale.

“On a scale that we did it, yes [we are the first to hold fully automated elections]. From the voting, canvassing, etcetera… for the entire nation and for the number of positions, yes [we are the first],” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

“We are the only country that fully committed to the automation of the election process from end to end,” Jimenez added.

The Comelec official said that other Asean countries like Indonesia and Singapore only automated some parts of their electoral process.

He said that the Philippine experience on automated elections is continuously being cited as an example to other countries.

“We had two automated elections and we are constantly mentioned as an example of automation,” the Comelec official said.

Jimenez also allayed fears that the Philippines will revert to manual polls in 2016, adding that the bidding on voting machines is proceeding on schedule.

READ: Comelec: 2016 voting will still be automated | New Comelec chief confident of automated polls in 2016

The country first implemented automated elections during the 2010 national and local elections where President Benigno Aquino III won. The 2013 Senate and local elections were also automated.

In the 2016 elections, 90,000 candidates are expected to vie for 18,000 government posts.

The filing of certificates of candidacy is from October 12 to 16. IDL