Congress to launch inquiry into election process

Philippine legislators announced Wednesday that they have launched an inquiry into last week’s automated elections after opponents who lost out on a seat allege that the elections were rigged.

Reuters

Although the majority of complaints have come from the direction of those in the running for lower positions, some of future President Benigno Aquino’s rivals believe that a considerable number of the results were pre-programmed onto computer memory cards prior to the election.

 Congress will meet on Monday following a full investigation into fraud allegations and to confirm Aquino as the next President, if that is indeed still the case.

 House Speaker Prospero Nograles, who lost his campaign to become the mayor of Manila, has heaped the blame on the automated ballot machines, Smartmatic, proposing that the company will receive no payment  “until the air is clear.”

 But Prospero Pichay, from the Lakas-Kampi CMD party, maintains that "unless proven otherwise, we believe that this automated election was a big success,” despite the fact that his party came in a lagging fourth overall.