Election watchdog Citizens for Clean and Credible Election (C3E) on Tuesday accused proadministration legislators of paving the way for the victory of President Aquino’s presidential candidate in 2016, by ensuring that Smartmatic-Total Information Management will remain as the country’s sole provider of automated voting machines for next year’s elections. C3E co-convener Nicanor Elman said this could be the main reason key leaders of the proadministration House of Representatives “are suspiciously turning a blind eye on the frailties” of the Venezuelan company’s Precinct Count Optical Scan machines used in the past national and local polls. “What we are trying to understand is, why some leaders of Congress had apparently turned defenders and apologists for Smartmatic,” Elman said in a statement. “If ever the elections push through, the Smartmatic cheating machine seems part of the grand equation for the administration,” he added.
Elman said that a number of congressman revealed their “bias for Smartmatic,” and even manifested questionable motives over that of the national interest of ensuring clean and credible elections.
“There have been plenty of issues raised against Smartmatic, even as far back as 2009. We wonder why not one among these members of Congress has come out and asked questions about Smartmatic’s numerous acts of omission and misrepresentation,” he said.
Full Article: Poll watchdog: Smartmatic will ensure administration bet’s victory in 2016 | BusinessMirror.