Members of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines recommended manual vote counting in the next election on the basis that automated election facilitated cheating as its observers monitored in the previous election. Its envoy for its International Observer’s Mission (IOM) for the 2025 Election stated this at a press conference on April 23.

Australian former senator Lee Rhiannon said the 2022 election did not meet the standards for a free, honest, and fair election. “The declared vote count is unconvincing because of the extremely fast transmission of voting results—the Filipino voters were deprived of access to reliable information, deprived of a voting place that is safe from intimidation, and a credible system of vote counting,” she said.

“Manual vote counting should replace the vote counting machines so that the results of the election can be seen at the precincts before the results are sent to the provincial or national canvassing center,” she added.

The IOM will monitor election violence, cheating, Red-tagging, and vote buying. It will also monitor possible disinformation tactics on mainstream and digital platforms, and violations of international humanitarian law.

Kontra Daya agreed with the recommendation of ICHRP. “The process will, of course, be slower through manual counting, but the process of ballot counting will be more closely monitored by election watchers. The transmission of results will not be as fast as electronic but we can be more certain of the results,” Danilo Arao of Kontra Daya said.