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Maguindanao may soon be the first to have automated
elections in the country.
The Commission on Election (Comelec)
on Wednesday announced that it would conduct a re-bidding of the
automation of the elections in the Autonomous Region for Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM).
Comelec Spokesman, James Jimenez
said that only one out of the two bidding firms had qualified in the
public bidding that was conducted to automate the ARMM election.
“With the disqualification of
the Sandz Solutions, we do not have an optical mark reader (OMR) bid
right now,” Jimenez said in a statement.
Unless the Comelec en-banc orders
a re-bidding for the OMR solution, the Comelec spokesman said that
only the election in Maguindanao province could be automated.
The poll body, based on a
recommendation by an advisory council, will be using the direct
recording electronic (DRE) technology and the OMR for the ARMM
elections.
The poll body spokesman said that
Smartmatic Sahi Joint Venture which is bidding for the DRE has
qualified in the eligibility requirements set in the request for
proposal issued by the Comelec by submitting a lower price than the
poll body’s approved budget.
A resolution that was passed by
the commission en banc last February 6 ordered the implementation of
the DRE and OMR technologies for the ARMM election this coming
August 11.
Under the DRE technology, voters
in Maguindanao will be allowed to vote through a touch-screen or
touch pad system, while the OMR requires voters in the rest of ARMM
to fill-up paper ballots that will be counted by specially designed
machines.
The Comelec spokesman said that
the joint undertaking between the Smarmatic, a South African firm
and the local based Sahi couldn’t be divulged until the project
was officially awarded to the winning bidder.
“The Smartmatic Sahi bid will
now undergo close scrutiny to ensure it meets all the Comelec
specifications as reflected in the RFP,” Jimenez added in the
statement.
ARMM is composed of six provinces
namely: Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan, Basilan, Sulu
and Tawi-Tawi with an estimated 1.7 million registered voters.
ARMM voters are to elect one
governor, a vice-governor and 27 members of the Regional Legislative
Assembly.
During last year’s synchronized
election, Maguindanao gave a highly “statistically improbable”
12-0 sweep for the senate race in favor of the administration’s
Team-Unity ticket.
--Anthony Vargas
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