Uphold 25% threshold in PET recount: Stratbase ADRi

IMPOSING the 50% threshold in the vice-presidental ballot recount will disenfranchise voters, think tank Stratbase ADRi said, Sunday.

“The ruling would grossly violate the rights of all voters in the 2016 elections as their votes that had already been duly counted and canvassed would be invalidated,” Stratbase ADRi President Victor Andres C. Manhit said in a statement.

Mr. Manhit was referring to the ruling made by the Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), which denied Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo’s motion for a 25% shading threshold on the ballots under review.

Mr. Manhit also noted that “National opinion polls, foreign observers and independent election watch dogs have assessed the 2016 elections to be one of the most credible in recent memory.”

The statement also cited a study for Stratbase by political science expert Francisco A. Magno, concluding that “The general assessment of the 2016 Philippine automated elections is undeniably positive and was far better than the past two automated elections in 2010 and 2013.” —