MANILA, Philippines – While the Philippines has recently logged its highest voter turnout in midterm polls, an international observer noted that the playing field for candidates remained unequal.

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) released on Friday, May 16, its interim report on the Philippines’ midterm elections that highlighted how the recent polls were personality-driven instead of focusing on proposed policies.

Local campaigns favored candidates who had more resources, with ANFREL noting that vote-buying — either through cash handouts or the illegal use of state resources such as the promise of scholarship grants and/or aid — remained prevalent. Many also ran uncontested.

“There’s a very high-level of seats that were unopposed. At least 30% of the areas that we observed had at least one seat with no opposition, which highly impacts on political engagement of voters,” ANFREL International Election Observer Jake Bertram Barker said in a press briefing on Friday, May 16.

“Although there [was a] very high turnout on election day… on the ground, the voters… there was some apathy that was seen and resignation even due to those issues and this is partly, as we noticed, due to endemic issues in terms of the power of entrenched political families and dynastic politics.”

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ANFREL’s International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) has been in the country since April 27 and witnessed all stages of the country’s electoral process — from the campaign season, election day, and post-election activities.

The mission deployed a team of 21 observers, including electoral analysts, to 11 regions in the Philippines.

Among ANFREL’s observations was political campaigns of candidates also focused more on their visibility and becoming personalities, instead of proposing policies. For instance, the social media pages of candidates just focused on their rallies and failed to share substantial campaign platforms.

There was also limited participation in policy debates. Candidates have also shifted their strategies away from engaging with traditional media entities, “[creating] more space for unchecked disinformation.”

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This year’s polls ended with a voter turnout of 81.65% — a record for midterm elections. According to the observer, election day on May 12 was “generally orderly,” although some polling places in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao opened late and there were complaints regarding markers’ ink seeping through.

ANFREL lauded the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) efforts to make the voting process more inclusive, such as opening earlier on election day for senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and pregnant women, introducing internet voting for overseas Filipinos, and introducing accessible and priority polling places.

However, the observer noted there is still room for improvement in terms of the implementation of these reforms. There were also challenges in terms of enforcing electoral laws.

ANFREL also commended Comelec for being more transparent and communicative with election stakeholders, such as watchdogs and observers. – Rappler.com