MANILA, Philippines — Most Filipinos believe the results of the May elections—which led to the return of the Marcoses to Malacañang—are accurate and credible, according to a new Pulse Asia survey released Monday.
Results of a nationwide poll of 1,200 adults conducted from June 24 to 27 showed 82% of respondent saying they have “big trust” that the outcomes of national and local polls were accurate and credible.
Related Stories
According to the polling firm, trust ranged from 73% to 93% across all areas, and 79% to 82% across classes.
“Trust is most pronounced in Mindanao (96%) and least manifest in the rest of Luzon (73%),” it noted.
Only four percent of the respondents expressed distrust, while 14% were ambivalent on the matter.
Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., who ran on a vague platform to bring unity to Filipinos, won the national elections by a landslide and with over 31 million votes. His running mate Sara Duterte led the vice-presidential race with 32 million votes.
Several groups expressed concerns over the conduct of the national and local elections on May 9, following the fast transmission of votes to the count of the Commission on Elections, and reports of vote buying, vote counting machine malfunctions and other glitches.
Comelec has repeatedly said that no fraud happened during the elections.
Satisfaction with automated polls
The Pulse Asia survey also showed that 89% of the individuals polled were satisfied with the automated voting system, which employed the use of vote counting machines, despite reports of faulty VCMs.
According to the pollster, 53% in the Visayas and 64% in the Mindanao were very satisfied with the automated voting system, while most of those in the rest of Luzon were somewhat satisfied with the same.
“Virtually the same percentages of those in Metro Manila and all socio-economic groupings are either very satisfied (42% to 45%) or somewhat satisfied (42% to 48%),” it said.
Only four percent of the respondents were dissatisfied with the automated voting system or were undecided on the matter.
Seventy-two percent of the respondents cited the faster release of election results as the main benefit of having an automated voting system. Meanwhile, 15% said the key gain from the automated election system was the ease of voting and 11% said it made the polls more credible.
The opinion that the country has not benefited from having an automated elections is stated by only one percent of adults.
The survey also found that 89% of adult Filipinos are in favor of continuing the use of automated voting system in future elections.
The Pulse Asia poll had a ± 2.8% error margin at the 95% confidence level.