Comelec tells int’l poll observers: You shall have unimpeded access to electoral process

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday conducted a briefing for international poll observers, urging them to uphold the integrity of the upcoming May 9 elections.

Comelec Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan told the poll observers to follow the necessary guidelines imposed by the commission.

“You shall have unimpeded access to the electoral process subject only to such conditions necessary for the protection of our Comelec personnel and property, as well as the protection of privileged information,” Pangarungan said.

“We ask that our monitors uphold the integrity of the elections through their compliance with our guidelines,” he added.

He also expressed confidence that the poll observers will maintain their “impartiality and objectivity” throughout the electoral process.

The international election observers were able to experience voting via counting machines during the briefing, according to a tweet of GMA's Tina Panganiban Perez.

The Comelec is currently conducting a briefing for international election observers. They were able to experience voting via vote counting machines. @gmanews #Eleksyon2022 pic.twitter.com/6UGk5WCvPe

— Tina PanganibanPerez (@tinapperez) May 4, 2022

The Comelec has received more than 26,000 local absentee voting ballots for Eleksyon 2022 as of 5:30 p.m. of May 3.

A total of 26,396 ballots were received by the Comelec Reception and Custody Units so far.

Meanwhile, the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) earlier said that it has deployed six long-term international poll observers and two electoral analysts to monitor activities related to the May 2022 local and national elections in the country.—Richa Noriega/AOL, GMA News