INQUIRER.net
Thea AlbertoMANILA, Philippines -- Citing its own records, the National Movement for Free Election (Namfrel) said Saturday that voter turnout during the May 14 mid-term elections was only around 50 percent, way below the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) 60 to 70 percent announcement.
"Based on our record of [the] number of precincts tabulated as of 12:10 today, the total number of votes of people who voted and [which] we have processed…tend to show that the voter turnout for this year's election may be closer to 50 percent than what we have heard [Comelec say] that is 70 percent," Go told a press conference.
Comelec had predicted a 90 percent turnout before May 14.
Meanwhile, Go reiterated that Namfrel’s current quick count is faster than the one it undertook during the 2004 presidential elections.
"To those who say we are slow, we have historical data to show that compared to 2004 we are not that slow. What gives the impression of our slowness is the ABS-CBN and GMA [quick] counts very quickly zoomed to a high figure but their sources are not official sources like ours [which are] the election returns," Go said.
The Comelec has already barred the two television networks from conducting their own quick counts.
