More foreign observers encouraged to join May polls

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections should encourage as many international observers as possible to monitor the May 13 midterm elections to ensure clean and orderly polls.

In a statement, administration guest candidate Grace Poe said the presence of the international community during the polls could deter election fraud and cheating.

She added that while the Comelec has taken great strides to ensure the integrity of the election, Poe said it cannot discount the possibility that desperate political groups would still resort to fraud and sabotage.

“A shameless few will certainly try to win at all cost or brazenly destroy the credibility of an election just to be able to smear doubt on the rightful victory. We cannot have a repeat of the wholesale rip-off like 2004 when FPJ was cheated while the people could only watch helplessly,” said Poe.
   
Poe said the impartial and dispassionate account given by foreign monitors about conduct of the automated canvassing dispelled lingering doubts on the success of the process even if a lot of apprehensions were raised earlier on about the reliability of a computerized voting procedure.