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King Prajadhipok’s Institute 61

Section 1: Declaration of Policy. It is the policy of the State to
ensure free, orderly, honest, peaceful, credible and informed elections,

plebiscites, referenda, recall and other similar electoral exercises by
improving on the election process and adopting systems, which shall
involve the use of an automated election system that will ensure the

secrecy and sanctity of the ballot and all election, consolidation and
transmission documents in order that the process shall be transparent

and credible and that the results shall be fast, accurate and reflective
of the genuine will of the people.

The State recognizes the mandate and authority of the Commission
to prescribe the adoption and use of the most suitable technology
of demonstrated capability taking into account the situation prevailing

in the area and the funds available for the purpose.»

It is worthwhile to highlight the performance of COMELEC and
the key challenges pertaining to the management and operations of the

Commission at the major transition juncture of pre-automation (2004
presidential elections) and post-automation (2010 presidential elections;

including initial assessments of the recent 2016 presidential elections).
The Balanced Scorecard Table below – highlighting policy enactments,
stakeholder engagement, resource generation, and management,

mechanics and processes, and capacity and capability-building
--neatly summarizes and presents COMELEC’s election performance across

these three election periods based on the findings of the independent
assessments conducted by the following electoral development and
reform agencies: