They might be a 3rd world country but the elections are fair

[FreakinDJ]

Automated polls junked
SC voids Mega Pacific deal
By Joel R. San Juan, Reporter

The Supreme Court on Tuesday nullified a contract awarded to a private consortium to computerize voting procedures, raising fears that the May election might be delayed.

Nine of the 14 justices said the deal between the Commission on Elections and the Mega Pacific Consortium should be scrapped owing to bidding irregularities, officials said.

The deal allowed for the consortium to supply the Comelec’s automated vote-counting machines and forms for the election.

The decision, written by Associate Justice Artemio Panganiban, was 101 pages long. In it the Court also ordered the Office of the Ombudsman to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against Comelec officials responsible for the failed bidding and award.

The Court also ordered the Solicitor General to “protect the government and vindicate public interest of the ill effect of the illegal disbursement of public funds” related to the deal, the Court’s spokesman, Ismael Khan, said.

“In a sense the order says we should get back the money” paid to the consortium, Khan said, alluding to the P1.2-billion contract.
The contract covers hardware, software and satellite links to register voters, count ballots and bounce official returns to the national canvassing center, election officials said.

The National Movement for Free Elections, a civilian body deputized to ensure the honest conduct of elections, said the ruling has “put the credibility of the Comelec in question.”

The Court noted that the Comelec awarded the contract to the consortium despite an evaluation report by the Department of Science and Technology giving the counting machines failing marks.

It said Mega Pacific also failed to meet another key requirement, which is that the counting machines’ software program should be able to detect previously downloaded precinct results and prevent them from being entered again into the counting machines.

The Court said these defects could result in a massive and large-scale election fraud.

“We are thus confronted with the grim prospect of election fraud on a massive scale by means of just a few key strokes—the marvels and woes of the electronic age,” the Court added.

The case stemmed from the petition filed by the Information Technology Foundation of the Philippines and several individuals on August 6, seeking to annul Comelec Resolution 6074, which awarded the automated counting and canvassing system phase of the modernization project to Mega Pacific.

“We will stand by our constitutional mandate to conduct an honest, fair and credible election,” he said.
--With Ferdinand Patinio, Correspondent

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/jan/14/yehey/top_stories/20040114top1.html