JDV warns vs. prospect of failed elections
FEARS and anxieties over the prospect of failure of elections this year continue to heighten amid reports of various glitches experienced in the series of tests made for the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.
Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. warned that winning candidates for the national positions may not be proclaimed before June 30, and only local candidates may likely be proclaimed.
He warned against a possible vacuum in political power that might arise as a result of failed elections prompted by incidents of widespread malfunctioning or manipulation of electronic machines reported on election day.
He reiterated his recommendation that international observers, including known information technology experts, be allowed full access to the various phases of the first automated election and monitor the process.
The former Speaker also joined the earlier appeal aired for the present Senate to elect a new Senate president, whose term ends beyond 2010, soon to ensure the installation of a new President.
According to De Venecia, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, a candidate for re-election in 2010, supports the recommendation.
He also appealed to political parties and the civil society to unite and plan for contingencies like a failed election or delay in the promulgation of winners.
He issued his appeal in a two-page statement he read before the media at his residence in Dagupan City.
The former five-time Speaker of the House of Representatives said he issued the call as president of the Centrist Democrat International (CDI) in Asian and the Pacific and as founding chairman of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties made up of more than 200 political parties.
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