A vote-counting machine in Pasig. A number of politicians on Monday slammed the Comelec over the delay of real-time election results, a sentiment shared by many voters as tallying continued into midnight. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News
MANILA (UPDATE)—A number of politicians on Monday slammed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) over the delay of real-time election results, a sentiment shared by many voters as tallying continued into midnight.
The Comelec said problems arose in the transparency server because of an application error.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, in a tweet, pointed out that Congress allocated a substantial budget for a "real time and credible elections" with a satisfactory system found wanting.
Sen. Joel Villanueva said the public has "the right to know what’s really going on."
Sen. Kiko Pangilinan demanded an explanation from the poll body.
"Lumabas kayo, ipakita ninyo mga mukha ninyo at magpaliwanag sa malaking kapalpakan na ito. Bakit wala pang resulta sa Senate race? Bakit hindi kayo humaharap sa publiko? Hindi ba ninyo maipapaliwanag ang mga pangyayari kaya nagtatago kayo matapos ang limang oras?" he said.
"If you can't release the results, we demand an immediate explanation as to the reasons behind this delay in the release. Surely you can do better than this."
Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Elago echoed Pangilinan's disappointment.
"Kailangan pong ipaliwanag ng Comelec kung bakit hanggang ngayon walang update ang transparency server nito. Di tulad ng 2013, 2016 elections na halos real-time ito. 71 percent na ngayon ang nabato sa main server pero 0.38 percent pa lang ang nasa transparency server," she said in a tweet.
Columnist Manuel L. Quezon III likened the transparency server delay to electricity failure in the previous elections.
“'Comelec transparency server problem delays release of election results, says PH poll body spokesman.' Ah, like the good old days, when the power would cut out and the counting would bog down . . . " he said.
Some online comments targeted the credibility of the agency.