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MANILA, Philippines – Most Filipinos believe that the May 9 polls were either “more credible now” or “as credible as before,” a Pulse Asia survey showed.

Only 8% of the 1,200 respondents said the past elections were either less credible or not as credible as six years ago, while the remaining 7% were undecided.

Around 55% percent of respondents also said the presence of cheating was not as pervasive in the last polls, while only 12% thought otherwise. A third of the survey participants answered they “cannot say.”

The May 9 polls saw Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son and namesake of the late dictator who was ousted in 1986, getting 31.63 million votes. This made him the Philippines’ first majority president since his father was ousted, with one of the biggest electoral mandates in the country’s history.

Some 82% of respondents said they have “big trust” in election results, while only 4% said otherwise. The remaining respondents were unsure.

The survey had a ± 2.8% margin of error, and was conducted from June 24 to 27, a few days before Marcos took his oath on June 30.

The findings were presented by Pulse Asia president Ronald Holmes in a virtual forum by Democracy Watch and Stratbase ADR on Monday, July 18.

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Satisfied with automated polls

Over a thousand vote-counting machines (VCMs) broke down on election day, marring the voting experience of ten of thousands of voters, and casting doubts on the credibility of the automated election system (AES).

But many conspiracy theories on the automated polls remain to be unfounded, no thanks to misplaced anger and misinformed beliefs over how the AES works. Some of these false claims have been debunked.

In terms of the automated election system, 89% of Pulse Asia’s survey respondents were satisfied, while only a minuscule 4% were not. Some 89% of the participants also said they would like the AES to continue in the future.

Some interest groups and lawmakers, including the President’s sister Senator Imee Marcos, have pushed for a shift to a hybrid election system, one that combines manual counting of votes and electronic transmission.

The 2022 elections saw a voter turnout of 83.07%, the highest in the Philippines’ automated election history. – Rappler.com