Political parties urged to check source code for flaws

MANILA, Philippines – Political parties are being urged to actively participate in the source code review to show how the vote counting machines are programmed for use in next year’s polls.

Only a few have actively scrutinized the vote counting machines software since the source code review started on Oct. 8 at the Bro. Andrew Gonzales Hall in De La Salle University on Taft Avenue, Manila, Smartmatic head for Voters Education Karen Jimeno told a radio interview.

“The source code review allows participants to read the code line by line to check for flaws; its performance, functionality and security; consistency with the overall program design; and adherence to coding standards,” she said.

Only a handful have been seriously participating in the review process despite the long list of political parties and election watchdogs granted accreditation,” Jimeno said.  

“Comelec and Smartmatic IT personnel assigned to assist the reviewers said there are even days when no one shows up at all,” she said.

Eight political parties are accredited to do the review: Liberal Party, United Nationalist Alliance, Nationalist People’s Coalition, Unang Sigaw-Nueva Ecija, Bagumbayan Party, Lakas–CMD,   Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, and Center for People Empowerment in Government.

CenPeg, a critic of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) over the use of precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in 2010 and 2013 polls, had backed out from the review but its reviewer had expressed intention to stay under a different organization.

Source code is a human-readable version of a software as originally written.  

It reveals exactly how the system is programmed, including the instructions given to the vote counting machines.

The source code review provides political parties the best opportunity to scrutinize the software running the vote counting machines, Jimeno said.

“In 2013, political parties complained of lack of transparency and insufficient time to review the source code,” she said.

“Now, Comelec and Smartmatic are giving them enough time – more than seven months, in fact – to review the code.” 

She hopes candidates would not make the source code their scapegoat if they lose in next year’s polls, Jimeno said.

“We’re calling on the accredited reviewers to participate in the source code review,” she said.  

“This is one of the many ways to promote transparency for the 2016 elections. Anyone who participates in the review can check if the instructions are correct, or if the functionalities are compliant with Comelec requirements.”