We need a better election system

By BusinessMirror Editorial, May 17, 2019

While not accurate and in dubious context, Joseph Stalin is often quoted as saying, “It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”

However, the sentiment is extremely important in the background of elections in 2019. It has become a “custom” in virtually every country that the losing candidates claim that the election was rigged and the office that they ran for was stolen.

The key, though, is not as Stalin “said” that the people must know that there was an election. We the people must be confident that the election was free, fair and the results accurate. It is not enough that the “winners” hold that confidence. The majority of the voters must feel comfortable with the truth of the outcome. That is the responsibility and obligation of the government, no matter who occupies the seats of power and authority.

For the 2019 midterm elections, some 60 million voters could have gone to the polls. Assuming 70 percent did vote, that is about 40 million ballots that were cast.

If we are to reform the election process, we need to start with the basics. In this election there were 62 official candidates for senator. Theoretically, each of the winning “12” could have received 40 million votes assuming all 40 million ballots went exactly the same way. Assuming all voters made 12 selections for senator, that is 480 million votes for Senate candidates.

But in reality, 50 percent—or 31 candidates—received 2 million votes or less. Twenty-seven of the 62 Senate candidates received less than 1 million votes.

Having this number of candidates does not enhance democracy. What it does is make for an unnecessarily long and complicated ballot, making the logistics of counting—even electronically—more onerous. The party-list “candidates” is even more absurd with 134 choices of which one received less than 7,000 votes.

India has 900 million registered voters spread over 1 million polling stations, 2,000 local and national political parties, and using 1.6 million electronic voting machines. Yet they seem to do a better job than we do. This is partly because the election is held in seven phases, this year from April 11 to May 19. Its voting machines are simple, even battery operated and manufactured by a local Indian company.

We must seriously rethink the way Philippine elections are conducted. That should include who can run for office. In many countries, a candidate must be sponsored by a legitimate and established political party or gather registered voters with verified signatures on a petition. The party-list system should start with a blank piece of paper and go from there. Perhaps, voting for national elective office should be totally separate from local elections.

Any change in the election system is going to require hard work and may make elections more costly. Both are worth it. Participatory democracy is worth it.