Various election watchdogs in the Philippines called on the government on Monday, September 14, to declare their commitment to hold nation elections on May 9, 2022.
In a “unity statement,” the groups said the national and local elections should be held in 2022 as mandated by the Constitution.
They urged government leaders to sign a “Covenant for the 2022 Elections” that should declare that they “commit to holding safe, free, fair, credible and transparent elections on May 9, 2022.”
The poll watchdogs said that any and all attempts and excuses to postpone the elections as scheduled are “unacceptable.”
“We appeal to those in power to categorically disown and dismiss speculations about a ‘no-elections’ scenario which were created by the push for charter change and the proposed shift from presidential to parliamentary system,” read the groups’ statement.
“The right of suffrage should never be compromised. All of us should remain committed in promoting and upholding safe, free, fair, credible and transparent elections,” it added.
The groups said everyone should declare “our commitment to preserve our democratic institutions and Constitutional rights.”
“Let us resist and denounce all efforts to dispense with the elections by insidious means such as the proposed extension of the term limits of incumbent officials and the amendment of the Constitution,” it added.
They also called on the public to register as proof that “we want elections to push through.”
Among those who signed the “unity statement” are the groups Kontra Daya, Notional Movement for Free Elections, the Automated Election System Watch, Center for People Empowerment in Governance, National Secretariat for Social Action, Promotion of Church Peoples Response, and Sangguiniang Laiko ng Pilipinas, among others.
