The International Coalition for Human Rights in Philippines (ICHRP) announced on April 18 that it will send delegates to the Philippines to observe the May elections called the International Observer’s Mission 2025.

According to ICHRP, it is aware that amid intensifying human rights violations in the Philippines–such as enforced disappearances, bombings in communities, and the imposition of a de facto martial law in the countryside–fraud, disinformation, and violence continue, emphasizing the importance to have independent observers in the elections who will gather, analyze, and report their collected data to the international community.

In 2022, the ICHRP also launched an International Observers Mission in the Philippines, with the participation of 60 observers from 11 countries. They recorded cases of election-related human rights violations such as vote buying, vote counting machine failures, disinformation, red-tagging, threats, and killings. Their final report stated that the elections were not free and fair.

Meanwhile, the European Union also announced that it will send 200 observers for the EU Election Observation Mission for the upcoming May elections. Deputy Chief Observer Manuel Sanchez de Nogues said they will “monitor the accuracy, security, and transparency of voting, counting, recording by the automated counting machines, election campaigns of candidates, and others.”

Aside from representatives from the EU, the governments of Canada, Norway, and Switzerland will also send personnel as observers.