COMELEC to require presidential debates in 2010

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) will pass a resolution to hold presidential and vice-presidential debates as part of the preparations for the 2010 elections.

COMELEC Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, who was in Washington, D.C. to observe the US elections, said the televised debates of US president-elect barack Obama and Sen. John McCain helped voters decide.

"The debates informed the electorate about the candidates' persona and stand on various issues," Sarmiento said.

Sarmiento said debates to be held in the Philippines will "gauge the capacity, potential and eloquence of candidates."

Sarmiento cited debates as among the 10 lessons from the 2008 US presidential elections in a paper he wrote. Another lesson: the use of automated election system fast-tracked the voting, counting and announcing of election results. abs-cbnnews.com

COMELEC Chairman Jose Melo told reporters he is confident the Philippines will be able to see something like this happen here in 2010. He said he has instructed the COMELEC advisory council to speed up its process of selecting vendors and technology for 2010.

Sarmiento also noted the "gracious and immediate" concession of McCain, saying it is "worth emulating."

"The fine democratic behavior demonstrates a political maturity and strongly contributes to political stability" paving the way for "post-election healing... where winners and losers participated in a parade to symbolically 'bury the hatchet,'" he said.

Sarmiento, however, added that the US presidential election was not perfect, citing glitches that hounded polling places and recalling parallelisms in the Philippine election setting.

He cited incidents where precincts that opened up late were understaffed and had voters who found themselves unregistered. There were even electronic and optical scan machines "breaking down in some states, causing paper ballots to pile up."

Other lessons that Sarmiento saw were the power of young voters who made a difference and the modern technology that boosted Obama's candidacy.

He also said that the early voting led to shorter lines on election day especially in battleground states, the presence of the tri-media who kept the electorate informed about current issues, and the projection of potentials and capacities of the candidates.

Aside from these, Sarmiento said redefined moral issues and faith dimension were evident in the electoral campaign. In managing the electoral process, volunteerism among the adults and the young was impressive, he added.