Party-list groups not being tallied–Beltran



By Maricel V. Cruz, Reporter

The Manila Times

Manila-- ANAKPAWIS Representative Crispin Beltran complained that the electoral fraud machinery of the administration have started to get operational as votes cast for progressive party-list groups in areas where Team Unity candidates claimed victory are not being read and tallied.

The political detainee said reports from the municipalities in Southern Tagalog reaching his office showed that votes for Anakpawis were not being called out and reported because of this the party-list group is losing as many as 500 votes in small municipalities.

“Logic, common sense and the blatant way it is being perpetrated make it impossible to ignore the massive electoral fraud now taking place, and this is certain to worsen over the weekend and more votes are shaved off from the progressive party-lists and GO candidates,” Beltran said.

He cited the Maguindanao results where Team Unity has allegedly secured a clean sweep where the bloc of progressive lists received zero votes in hundreds of precincts.

“Our poll watchers are being pushed to the sidelines and ignored, their protests that the votes for our party-lists are not being counted or being cut in half are being dismissed. The fraud operators are taking full advantage of the tension-filled situation in the local elections race,” Beltran added.

Anakpawis has ranked 16 in the last official tallies of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel).

Beltran blamed the low ranking of his party-list to the electoral fraud machinery of the administration.

“We have all reasons to believe that we would do well in the elections and maintain our two seats in congress if not secure another one. We decry the attacks against Anakpawis and these ongoing attempts to weaken our participation in the legislative arena by defrauding us of thousands of votes required to ensure that we maintain our two seats in congress,” he said.

Representative Beltran said that the areas where the Team Unity candidates are supposedly winning big are also the places where the progressive party-lists Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela, Suara Bangsa Moro and Kabataan were being cheated out of hundreds of thousands of votes.



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