THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) insisted that representatives from the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) will not be allowed to enter and ask questions inside the polling precincts on May 12, election day.
This was reiterated by Comelec Chairman George Garcia in a media forum, saying that the poll body’s decision to deny the group’s plea to enter polling precincts is an important step to protect the country’s laws and its sovereignty.
He said the only people allowed by law to be present in the polling precinct are the electoral board members, support staff, poll watchers of citizen’s arms, majority minority minority party members, and voters.
Although the Comelec is open to show to the whole world the country’s electoral process, it will not allow anything that will violate laws regarding this.
The poll body chief explained further that if in case there’s a commotion inside the polling precinct, even members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will not be allowed to enter without permission or authorization from the electoral board members for this constitutes an election offense.