An International Observers Mission (IOM) monitoring May 2007 mid term National and Local elections in the Philippines has identified positive signs for the consolidation of democracy, but there is much work to be done by Philippines political parties.

Date:  19 July 2007

International observers - including Australian Labor's Dr Lesley Clark - were posted to locations throughout the Philippines , with special attention paid to areas where reports of violence and electoral fraud are commonplace.

Clark joined the International Observer Mission on 10 May in Manila and returned to Australia on 19 May. From 12 to 16 May 2007 she joined a field team in Cotabato City in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to observe polling day. Dr Clark had previously delivered capacity building programs to the Political Caucus of Women Leaders in Mindanao, based in Cotabato City .

Clark 's time in ARMM was spent interviewing candidates, election officials and members of civil society and political parties. Her team also monitored election preparations, polling day and vote counting. Despite concerns about the preparedness of the Philippines electoral commission (COMELEC) to administer the election, polling in Mindanao was overall orderly and peaceful. 'Our presence helped to deter the extremes of fraud and violence,' said Clark .

On the positive side, the elections were hotly contested. Some 79,000 candidates contested approximately 17,263 national, provincial and local seats. Civil society participation was high - thousands of local and international volunteer poll watchers turned out to oversee the elections. The press provided free and diverse coverage of the polls.

Nationwide, violence and fraud continue to impede democracy in the Philippines . Between the commencement of the campaign period on 14 January and the close of polls on 14 May, there were 128 election-related killings and over 200 other incidents of violence. This number included the 10 people killed on Election Day. Electoral fraud was also prevalent, with numerous reported instances of vote buying, pre-filled ballots and vote 'shaving and padding,' where votes are lost or gained in the lengthy manual counting process. Popular participation was low. For example, preliminary turnout figures suggest only 38% of the voting age people of Cotabato City , Mindanao , cast ballots in the election.

The IOM submitted several recommendations to improve electoral standards in Philippines . These included reforms to eliminate the conditions under which procedures for vote canvassing can be manipulated, the separation of national and local elections, the separation of the judicial and administrative functions of COMELEC, and proposals to increase administrative efficiency.

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