MANILA, Philippines — Venezuelan-based firm Smartmatic should “not only be disqualified but perpetually banned” as the provider of the vote counting machines (VCMs) for the next automated elections, Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate of the Bayan Muna party-list group said on Saturday. “Instead of further indulging this anomaly of a corporation, the ‘Smartmatic virus’ should be purged forever from our electoral process,” Zarate said in a statement. It appears as though Smartmatic is a Comelec officials’ favorite,” Zarate added. Bayan Muna previously said that it would “seriously push” for a hybrid manual-automated election system in the next polls. READ: Makabayan bloc to ‘seriously push’ for hybrid-manual voting in next elections(Editor: Alexander T. Magno)ADVERTISEMENTRead NextLATEST STORIESMOST READ

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer June 01, 2019 10:52 UTC