Manila: The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has confirmed that there were no irregularities in the reported delay concerning the transmission of election data to the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting's (PPCRV) transparency server, which occurred an hour after the polls closed at 7 p.m. on Monday.
According to Philippines News Agency, the PPCRV reported that by 8:15 p.m., it was unable to access the election results data received by its transparency server. This situation was deemed "unusual" and unprecedented since 2010, prompting the PPCRV to post a statement on its Facebook page. The post quickly gained traction, leading social media users to demand an explanation from Comelec.
Comelec Chairperson George Garcia addressed these concerns, stating unequivocally that there was no anomaly causing the reported delay. He assured that all election returns (ERs) were available for verification, allowing for a comparison between the ER results received by Comelec and those received by the municipal board of canvassers and the PPCRV. Garcia emphasized that the results should be consistent across all entities involved.
Garcia elaborated that in cases where a mayor was proclaimed, one could compute and verify if the votes counted in the ERs matched those transmitted to Comelec and the PPCRV. He stressed that the municipal board of canvassers, Comelec, and PPCRV all share the same data source, ensuring accuracy and consistency.
He further explained that if there was a delay in the transmission process, whether due to the citizen arm's receipt of results or the transition from the primary to secondary media server, the critical question remains whether the results received by the PPCRV and Comelec were identical.
As of 10:53 p.m. on Monday, Comelec had received over 86.91 percent of the expected 93,387 local ERs for the midterm elections. By the next media briefing at 9 p.m., PPCRV spokesperson Ana Singson confirmed that the poll watchdog had accessed the data file from Comelec and was in the process of analyzing the results.
