The eyes have it

CALL it the poll watching equivalent of a military carpet-bombing: election-monitoring groups have not only multiplied in number since 2004, they have now gone beyond conducting parallel tallies that were first made popular by the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) some two decades ago.

These days, several of the newer organizations say they will keep their eyes on election-related matters long after the canvassing of votes is over and long after all the winners in the recently concluded polls have been proclaimed.
With questions about the 2004 elections still unresolved, many people have welcomed the proliferation of poll monitors. And now that election cheats seemed to have gone really garapal (which can be translated to being thick-faced, but scandalously bold may be more like it), the presence of watchdogs has become even more crucial.

The latest piece in i Report‘s current series on the elections gives the lowdown on some of the more prominent election monitoring groups and what they have been up to so far.

Read on at pcij.org.