KASAMA Vol. 21 No. 2 / April-May-June 2007 / Solidarity Philippines Australia Network

 

Political system

• Enactment of legislation to reduce the power of political dynasties.
• Enactment of legislation to encourage the development of strong internally democratic political parties.

Electoral system

• Separation of national and local elections beginning with the national elections for President, Senate and House of Representatives in 2010 followed by provincial, city and municipal elections the year after.
• Implementation of the legislation for Automated Voting/Canvassing passed by the Congress in January 2007 to be completed by May 2009 a year prior to the 2010 elections. Automation of the canvassing process should be given priority to reduce, if not eliminate, the conditions under which the procedures for the canvassing of votes can be manipulated.
• A new more democratic electoral system should be considered such as proportional representation or Single Transferable Vote (STV) majoritarian electoral system to replace the current past-the-post winner-take-all system.
• Development of guidelines to reduce electoral expenses and increase transparency and accountability of electoral funding.
• All polling stations should be free of threat, intimidation and interference from any public or private forces.
• COMELEC should develop publicly available transparent standards and guidelines for the location and size of precincts and locations of polling stations.
• COMLEC should implement additional procedures to ensure the privacy of citizens ballots.
• COMELEC should develop clear guidelines for the conduct of elections in election hotspots and areas of concern.
• COMELEC should enforce all electoral laws.
• The judicial and administrative functions of the COMELEC should be separated. A new independent court to settle disputes over electoral conduct in a timely and independent manner should be created.
• COMELEC should improve its administrative efficiency with the implementation of more effective leadership and management practices including the design of a human resource development program to recruit and develop competent, honest, and professional individuals into the service.
• COMELEC should develop and deliver a comprehensive voter education and information program.
• COMELEC should provide additional funding to civil society organizations for voter education, poll watching, capacity-building and training of volunteers.
• COMELEC should maintain an accurate and complete list of registered voters at all times.
• The COMELEC voters ID card should be recognized as a primary means of identification and should entitle citizens to cast their vote.
• The Armed Forces should be non partisan and implement strict guidelines regarding activities during elections.

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• Rot In The System - Lawrence Surendra
• Negros Occidental - Sugar and Philippine Politics - Lawrence Surendra
• Death or Glory - a documentary by Jason Bray
• Philippines: Crucial Mid-Term Elections in May
• Trapo Parties and Corruption

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