Gabriela Women’s Party is asking the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct a manual recount of election returns (ERs) after tasting defeat in the May 12 polls.
At A Glance
- Gabriela Women's Party is asking the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct a manual recount of election returns (ERs) after losing in the May 12 polls.
Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas and the party’s first nominee, Sara Elago, on Friday, May 16, sent a letter to Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia, and expressed their request after the group noted a decrease in the number of votes they garnered.
“At 2:03 AM (of May 13), the Gabriela Women’s Party had garnered 252,562 votes, according to data from COMELEC’s transparency media server,” they said.
“However, by 2:20 AM, this number had inexplicably decreased by 49,614 votes,” they added.
Based on the result of the 99.12 percent of the total ERs in the country, Gabriela ranked 55th after securing only .62 percent of total votes, thus failing to secure a congressional seat.
Brosas and Elago said the unexplained reduction of votes “raises serious concerns about the integrity and transparency of the electoral process".
They said that if votes for a sectoral party representing women and other vulnerable sectors can simply vanish without explanation, the there is a risk of disenfranchisement not only against the candidates but also the countless women and marginalized communities whose voices they seek to represent.
“The Gabriela Women’s Party urgently calls on the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to thoroughly investigate these matters and ensure the accuracy and security of transmitted electoral data,” they said.
“GWP also strongly demands the initiation of a manual vote count to verify and uphold the sanctity of the people’s vote,” they added.