BY BULATLAT
ELECTION WATCH/ BREAKING NEWS
May 14, 2007 – 11:43 p.m.

Lanao del Sur gave foreign observers from the People’s International Observers’ Mission (IOM) a glimpse of why it is known as an election hotspot.

Jessica Tulloch, an American and spokesperson of the Lanao del Sur team of the People’s IOM said that “blatant cheating and chaos” were evident in elections in the province.

IOM delegates reportedly saw poll watchers sitting beside voters dictating the names to be written on the ballots.
Other cases of election irregularities documented by the team were:
· Voters having more than one finger which had been marked with ink that is easily washed with soap and water
· Voters freely admitting to having voted several times. They said they were paid a minimum of P50 for every vote for municipal and city councilors to as much as P2, 000 per vote for mayoralty candidates.
· Minors as young as 15 years old being allowed to vote.
· Peso bills stapled on sample ballots and campaign leaflets being passed on to the voters through window grills.
· Ball pens in voting booths with stickers with candidates’ names written on them.
· Voters lists not posted outside precincts, and no Secrecy Folders and list of candidates for national and local positions

“Board of Election Inspectors appeared to deliberately ignore these acts, often appearing hopeless to stop the illegal acts,” Jessica Tulloch said.

Tulloch said members of the Philippine National Police-Regional Special Action Force also dictated on the BEIs when the precincts would be closed. They also moved around carrying assault and sniper rifles, and pistols. They camped inside the schools, appearing to have been posted there for a long time already.

The delegates were also able to interview disenfranchised voters, some of whom lined up and looked for their precincts from morning until the precincts closed several minutes past the official time of three o’clock.

The IOM team in this city also suffered harassment from candidates’ supporters. Media members have reportedly been confronted by unidentified persons with one member who was carrying a video camera being hit.

In a recent interview with Bulatlat, Hadji Abdullah Dalidig, the Namfrel officer in Lanao del Sur who testified before the Senate in 2005 about the manipulation of election results in his province during the May 2004 elections said that the very same machinery and practices are being put into place in preparation for the May 2007 elections. He said that he doubted whether the May 2007 elections in Lanao del Sur would be credible. (Bulatlat.com)

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