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Over 100 data scientists see no fraud in pattern of votes in VP race


Over 100 data science professionals and academics have said that there was nothing irregular with the V-shaped graph that showed how the number of Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s transmitted votes went down just as those of Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo went up less than 24 hours after the elections on May 9.

The statement was posted on the Facebook page of Reinabelle Reyes, a lecturer at Ateneo De Manila University and among the data scientists who signed.

The full statement and the names of all signatories is available here.

"We assert that an inverted V-shaped graph of the difference of votes between vice-presidential candidates Marcos and Robredo, plotted against the percentage of votes transmitted, does not amount to evidence of fraud," the academics said.

"Given that the votes came in from different regions at different times, the shape of the graph is, in fact, the expected pattern," they added.

"Many individuals and groups carried out independent analyses and communicated technical and logical arguments arriving at this conclusion," they said.

After the May 9 elections, David Yap, a former economics instructor at Ateneo De Manila University, alleged an election fraud was committed against vice-presidential bet Bongbong Marcos.

Yap illustrated that a V-shaped graph that supposedly indicated fraud when Leni Robredo's numbers caught up with those of Marcos.

He was supposed to speak about the election results in a public forum but backed out citing security concerns.

Marcos' camp has insisted that fraud could have attended the transmittal of the votes after a Smartmatic staff changed the script of the automated election system.

"The ability to give and receive critical feedback, without personal malice, is a core value of the scientific culture, a value essential to the integrity of the scientific enterprise," the data scientists said.

This statement is made in this spirit— without ill intent toward any individual, but out of a sense of duty to the community, they added.

"We recognize that with this power comes great responsibility. To be trusted to use data correctly and responsibly, we must raise the level of transparency and accountability within our own community," the statement read. —John Ted Cordero/NB/TJD, GMA News

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