Initial Conclusions
The 2007 elections are compromised by the COMELECs failure to ensure the credibility of the polls. At the least, it failed to dismantle the structural systems and conditions encouraging wholesale fraud. At most, it showed complicity with blatant acts of fraud and other violations of the Election Code. Even the traditional watchdog groups such as Namfrel and PPCRV, that are official citizens arms of the COMELEC, have carefully refrained from issuing statements absolving the COMELEC of election negligence, mismanagement or sabotage.
Kontra Daya raises these general statements on the 2007 elections:
1. There are initial indications that the Arroyo administration is engaged in large-scale electoral fraud in an attempt to secure favorable results for its candidates in the national elections (senatorial and party-list).
a. Throughout the campaign period and right up to Election Day, Malacanang led and directed a massive campaign of vote-buying for its candidates.
b. Malacanang has made partisan use of the military to campaign for administration candidates and against opposition groups especially the militant party lists.
c. In the ongoing period of counting and canvassing of votes, efforts to directly manipulate the election results in favor of Malacanangs candidates and against the administrations opponents (senatorial candidates and party-list groups) are underway.
2. COMELEC is directly complicit with the Arroyo administration in perpetrating the ongoing electoral fraud.
a. At its highest level, the COMELEC issued statements, policies, and resolutions that were in accordance with the interests of Malacanang particularly in the Cayetano case, the Robredo disqualification, and the Malacanang partylist issue.
b. The COMELEC laid the groundwork for electoral fraud which include among others the private printing of election forms, padded voters list, selective implementation of laws and the last-minute appointment of BEIs.
c. The COMELEC also aided and abetted fraud through its inaction on numerous blatant violations of election laws from the shameless vote-buying by administration officials to the blatant partisanship of the AFP.
d. The presence and promotion of election officers previously linked to fraud in Mindanao also shows complicity to commit fraud on the part of the COMELEC.
e. COMELEC chairman Abalos in particular makes it a point to rationalize if not cover up election-related anomalies which have come to light. He too is in a state of almost total denial when it comes to election fraud.
Two days after the elections, the Arroyo administration was quick to point out that an administration win at the local levels was a vote for stability and progress. COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos also claimed that the elections were a vindication for the poll body.
Neither claim is generally accepted. The popular public sentiment right now is that the Arroyo administration is abetting election fraud and engaging in terror tactics in the provinces. Reports of vote-shaving and manipulation, bribery, military harassment and extrajudicial killings all cast serious doubt on the outcome of the elections.
The strong lead shown by the Opposition and militant partylist groups in the COMELEC count do not disprove fraud; rather it reveals a popular preference for them so strong it is overwhelming even the most proven fraud tactics during the canvass. The Opposition and the progressives are winning the count despite the cheating.
The following days will be crucial as the canvassing of votes continues and the possibility of wholesale fraud looms even more. Kontra Daya calls on the people to exercise heightened vigilance and to start sending a strong message to the COMELEC, the AFP and the Arroyo administration that electoral fraud in any form will be politically costly for this regime.
2007 Elections
