MANILA, Philippines – The joint venture led by South Korean firm Miru Systems will be the Philippines’ top election provider in 2025, after it secured next year’s most expensive poll contract worth P17.9 billion.

The Commission on Elections signed the contract on March 11, after issuing a notice of award to the joint venture on February 21. In past elections, poll tech firm Smartmatic had always been the winning bidder.

Miru is the lone bidder for the contract that seeks to reshape automated elections in the Philippines.

As an election provider, Miru will be tasked to deliver the following:

• 110,000 new automated counting machines
• 104,345 ballot boxes
• 2,200 consolidation and canvassing system (CCS) laptops and printers
• Ballot paper for 73.8 million voters
• Ballot printing and ballot verification services

No competition

Miru showed interest in the Philippine elections as early as 2015, but this is the first time it submitted a bidding proposal to be a poll provider.

There was no competition this time, as it was the only legitimate bidder in the Comelec’s full automation system with transparency audit count (FASTrAC) project.

Miru’s joint venture partners for the 2025 elections are Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation, and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies.

Established in 1999, Miru has provided election systems in South Korea, as well as Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Its technology was the subject of security concerns in some of those countries, but Miru insisted that allegations of election failures were false.

Smartmatic out

The awarding of the contract to Miru officially unseats Smartmatic, the Philippines’ poll tech supplier since the country embarked on automated polls for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao elections in 2008. The country shifted to fully automated elections in 2010.

Smartmatic tried to submit a bidding proposal twice, but the Comelec rejected it due to the commission’s disqualification order against the company.

The company was barred from participating in future elections due to an alleged 2016 bribery scheme between Smartmatic and former Comelec chairman Andres Bautista.

The firm has denied wrongdoing, and is contesting the commission’s decision. – Rappler.com