Comelec disqualifies Smartmatic from procurements

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections has disqualified election technology provider Smarmatic from participating in procurements for all future polls, according to the poll body’s chairperson.

In posts on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, Garcia announced the poll body’s verdict on a petition filed in June to disqualify Smarmatic — the only technology provider to exclusively supply machines for the country's electoral processes since the country adopted automated elections in 2010.

The Venezuela-based company bagged contracts to provide election-related hardware and software for the country’s 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022 elections.

“We have to maintain the integrity of our electoral process,” said Garcia, who has yet to provide more details about the decision.

The petition against the technology provider was filed in June 15 by former information and communications technology secretary Eliseo Rio, retired colonel Leonardo Odoño and former Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines president Franklin Ysaac.

In particular, the petitions argued that Smartmatic should be disqualified since the May 2022 polls were marred by “serious and material irregularities,” particularly in the transmission and reception of election results.

Smartmatic on Monday asked the Comelec to drop the petition, saying that the claims of irregularities were made with insufficient evidence given that "(the petitioners) have not demonstrated a single vote discrepancy." 

This is a developing story.