EDITORIAL - New election system provider

It’s final: the country has a new automated election system provider. Yesterday, the Commission on Elections signed a P17.99-billion contract with South Korean firm Miru Systems Co. Ltd. for the lease to the Comelec of a Full Automation System with Transparency Audit Count or FASTrAC.

Under the deal, Miru Systems together with its local partners Integrated Computer System, St. Timothy Construction Corp. and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies Inc. will supply 110,000 new automated counting machines along with election management systems, secure and transparent ballot printing, 104,345 ballot boxes plus ballot paper as well as 2,200 canvassing system laptops and printers. Miru will also provide technical support for the machines, software and customizable systems.

Miru was the lone bidder for the supply deal, with its P17.99-billion offer lower than the approved budget of P18.82 billion for the project. The bidding was hounded by accusations that Miru services were marred by electoral fraud and cybersecurity issues in countries including Argentina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq and South Korea itself.

Miru officials denied these accusations, dismissing them as rumors and attributing the stories to losing candidates. Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the poll body also received certifications from the United Nations, vouching for Miru’s performance in the elections in Iraq, and from the Congo electoral commission. Some doubters remain unconvinced.

The Comelec has yet to award a service deal for the overseas online voting and counting system. In the meantime, the Comelec must move quickly to ensure that the 2025 polls will be as clean and glitch-free as possible. The Comelec has not yet sufficiently put to rest doubts raised by cyber experts regarding the integrity of the 2022 national races. The experts have questioned the use of a single private IP or internet protocol address, 192.168.0.2, which bypassed the networks of authorized telecommunications companies, and transmitted 20 million votes to the Comelec’s Transparency Server one hour after the polls closed. Election watchdogs have said the use of the IP address did not alter the vote results, which they counterchecked with raw data.

Smartmatic, which has been providing the system since the Philippines shifted to automated elections in 2010, has been barred by the Comelec from poll biddings amid allegations of bribery involving former Comelec chairman Andres Bautista. Both Smartmatic and Bautista have denied the accusations.

While this controversy continues, the new election system must be put through its paces. The best proof that the Comelec made the right moves in the case of Miru and Smartmatic is the conduct of honest, orderly and credible elections in 2025.