Comelec to IOM: No voter disenfranchisement in May polls

Commission on Elections chair George Erwin Garcia made it clear on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, that there was no voter disenfranchisement in the just-concluded May polls, contrary to the claim of international election observers. —Photo by MARIANNE BERMUDEZ/Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — There was no voter disenfranchisement in the 2025 midterm elections.

This was the reaction of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia on Wednesday to the final report of the International Observation Mission (IOM) launched by the International Commission of Human Rights in the Philippines.

As the IOM concluded that the elections were “neither free nor open, honest nor fair,” the observers also pointed out that issues like malfunctioning automated counting machines, reports of voters unable to find their names in the voters’ list, vote mismatch, and overvoting led to voter disenfranchisement.

READ: Int’l election observers: 2025 polls not ‘free, open, honest, fair’

“I strongly disagree with the statement that there was massive disenfranchisement. How can we have massive disenfranchisement when the voter turnout was 82.2%, the highest in the history of our country?” Garcia told reporters in a mix of English and Filipino in an interview.

Garcia said that voters endured long lines in polling precincts and braved the heat so they could cast their votes. The Comelec logged the highest voter turnout for midterm elections in Philippine history at 82.2% or 57,350,968 out of 69,673,653 registered voters.

“It’s not a state-sponsored disenfranchisement: 17.7% were not able to vote, and if the voter turnout was lower, maybe we could say that there was voter disenfranchisement, but there was none. Our constituents voted freely,” he added.

However, Garcia agreed to one of the group’s observations: vote-buying.

The IOM flagged rampant vote-buying incidents in the elections, emphasizing that “mass poverty and high inequality create the foundation for vote-buying by rich and powerful elites, leading to a well-entrenched political system dominated by family dynasties.”

“We could not deny the vote-buying because this is a reality present in our elections. Although, in all fairness, maybe we can notice now the strengthened campaign of the Comelec to combat vote-buying in the last elections,” Garcia said.

READ: Comelec allows EU observers in precincts before and after voting hours

Meanwhile, Garcia said that international observers must first inform the Comelec of their mission to observe the elections. He mentioned that the IOM did not ask for permission or consent from the poll body for the conduct of independent election observation.

While he said that accreditation is not mandatory, he emphasized that consent is important so the poll body will know the parameters of their observation and provide them the assistance they need in their mission./coa