Comelec Smartmatic can join bidding

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has denied a petition of an election watchdog to blacklist Smartmatic Asia from participating in bidding that the poll body will conduct for procurement of additional 23,000 automated election systems (AESs) for the 2016 balloting.

In a resolution, the BAC said Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (C3E) has “no legal personality” to initiate a blacklisting complaint against Smartmatic, a multinational company, as it is neither a bidder nor a duly authorized observer.