What makes an election commission credible

ELECTION LAWYER Romulo Macalintal was quoted as saying “that a Comelec commissioner should be a lawyer with at least 10 years practice of law.” (“New poll exec for manual voting,” Inquirer, 4/29/11) He was obviously questioning the appointment of Augusto Lagman to the Commission on Elections.

Macalintal seems to be oblivious that an election has an administrative component. Voters’ lists have to be updated, ballots have to be produced and distributed to various field offices, etc. These have nothing to do with an understanding and appreciation of election law; rather, these require administrative and management skills that are best handled by professionals with managerial experience. Lagman is not only an IT expert; he is also a professional manager.

Apart from the issue of credibility, the Comelec has also been beset by administrative lapses in past elections.

Let us have a look at well-conducted elections in Asia. India is the biggest democracy in the world with more than 750 million voters. The Indian Election Commission (IEC) has gained the respect and admiration of the democratic world for conducting credible elections. In fact, the IEC commissioners have been invited by emerging democracies as consultants during their elections, and the Philippines sent a Comelec commissioner and director to observe the last parliamentary elections in India. Unfortunately, our officials enjoyed the junket but did not learn from the experience.

I mentioned India because none of its last three chief election commissioners (the incumbent included) is a lawyer: N. Gopalaswami is a chemistry graduate with a diploma in Urban Development Planning; S. Y. Quraishi has a Ph.D. in Communications and Social Marketing and was with from the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs before his appointment to the election commission; Navin Chawla has a degree in History and Social Administration from the London School of Economics. Incidentally, a former chief election commissioner of India, James Michael Lynngdoh, was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award. Many of our Asian neighbors do not require their election commissioners to be lawyers—Thailand, Indonesia (now rated the only free country in the Asean by Freedom House), Bangladesh, Nepal and others.

The success of an election depends in large measure on the acceptance of the election’s legitimacy by the various election stakeholders. This can only happen when the election body is perceived as independent, impartial and transparent because they act in an independent, impartial and transparent manner. This is not brought about by the educational background they bring to the job.

We have had enough lawyers in the mold of Garcillano, Bedol, Sumalipao who have not contributed to improving the quality of our elections. Enough is enough! No more of their ilk!

—DAMASO G. MAGBUAL,
member,
Namfrel National Council;
chair, Asian Network
for Free Elections (Anfrel)