Int’l election observers: 2025 polls not ‘free, open, honest, fair’

MANILA, Philippines — A group of international poll observers has concluded that the 2025 Philippine midterm elections were neither free, nor honest nor fair.

The final report of the International Observer Mission (IOM) released on Tuesday also bared that the findings on the recently concluded elections were similar to the ones it observed during the 2022 elections.

The IOM was organized by the International Commission of Human Rights in the Philippines to deploy observers for the 2025 midterm elections across the country. It was first launched in 2022 as a response to the recommendation of Investigate PH for the conduct of an international election observer mission in the country.

READ: Int’l observers: May 9 PH vote falls short of free, fair, election standards

“The massive scale of problems identified in the 2025 elections rendered the elections neither free nor open, honest nor fair,” Dr. Andrea Mann, IOM commissioner, said in her presentation.

“The pattern of issues in the elections this year speaks to a much larger context of social inequality, inequity, fascism, foreign influence, and systematic human rights violations against the Filipino people,” Mann added.

Mirroring the results of the 2022 elections, the IOM also said that the “2025 Philippine Midterm Elections did not meet international standards for free and fair elections,” emphasizing that “anti-people policies, counter-insurgency strategy, rule of domestic political dynasties, and foreign interference” contributed to the violation of Filipino rights in the election.

The mission ran from April to mid-May, where more than 50 international human rights advocates joined the mission and field observers were deployed across the country, especially in areas with a documented history of election-related violence.

The IOM found eight critical issues that influenced the conduct of the 2025 midterm elections:

Red-tagging, disinformation vs candidates, party-lists

Observers of the IOM said that they documented widespread cases of red-tagging in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Southern Tagalog, Bicol Region, Western Visayas, and Mindanao. They underscored that red-tagging hinders the democratic process by discrediting reform proposals.

“Red-tagging was the most frequently reported violation in the 2025 election period, according to Vote Report PH,” the IOM said.

The IOM also noted that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) “heightened their attacks during the election period, calling for greater repression of civil society.”

The IOM pointed out the disinformation attack against the Bayan Muna Party-list with a false claim of its disqualification from the elections and the placement of makeshift coffins bearing posters of progressive candidates and party-lists.

READ: Invalidated ballots, faulty ACMs among issues flagged by IOM

In its initial report released last May 13, IOM Commissioner Colleen Moore said that they observed a “disturbing pattern” where election violence, red-tagging, and targeted disinformation against the progressives “created a chilling atmosphere that compromises the safety and freedom of voters.”

Voter disenfranchisement and ACM malfunctions

The IOM, together with its partners Kontra Daya and Vote Report PH, said that issues like malfunctioning ACMs (automated counting machines), pre-shaded ballots, nullified valid votes, reports of voters unable to find their names in the voters’ list, and vote mismatch led to voter disenfranchisement.

Based on the report of Kontra Daya and Vote Report PH as of 7 p.m. on May 12, 693 of the 1,362 election reports they received were “ACM errors,” which consist of paper jams, overvoting or rejected ballots, ink smudging, and high sensitivity of the machine scanner.

The IOM said that the Comelec failed to explain why the ACMs ran the version 3.5.0 software instead of the publicly certified version 3.4.0. The Comelec previously explained that the 3.4.0 version in the local source code review is the same review the independent third-party audit tested, and it was named as version 3.5.0 after it passed the test.

READ: ACM glitches, ‘overvoting’ top Election Day woes

The IOM also flagged the difficulties in the new online voting system, such as technical issues in the pre-enrollment requirement. It pointed out the low 18.12% voting turnout of overseas Filipinos.

Vote-buying

The IOM added that reports of vote-buying grew on a wide scale in the recent elections, emphasizing that “mass poverty and high inequality create the foundation for vote-buying by rich and powerful elites, leading to a well-entrenched political system dominated by family dynasties.”

The IOM also reported that workers and residents living in poverty were disenfranchised, as many Filipinos would not be paid if they did not go to work on election day. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared May 12 a special non-working holiday nationwide, where a “no work, no pay” rule is applied.

The Comelec has issued more than 150 show cause orders to local and national candidates for allegations of vote-buying and abuse of state resources (ASR). Vote-buying is considered an election offense under the Omnibus Election Code, while the ASR may constitute an election offense.

Influence of political dynasties, local elites

The report also emphasized that the “domination in this election by political dynasties, an oligarchy of elite families, raises concerns about the impact on democratic representation and political diversity.”

READ: Kontra Daya: Over half of party lists don’t represent poor

A February 2025 report by the Kontra Daya showed that 86 out of 156 party-list organizations have ties to political dynasties, big businesses, police, or the military.

Election-related violence

The report documented election-related killings, particularly in the northern province of Abra and the Bangsamoro region. Other election-related violence included fistfights, gunfights, and shootings, which resulted in killings in the provinces of Abra, Negros Occidental, Davao del Norte, Davao Occidental, Zamboanga del Sur, and the Bangsamoro region.

As of May 19, the Philippine National Police validated 100 election-related incidents, including 27 deaths and 62 injuries.

Violations of International Humanitarian Law

The IOM also observed a violation of the International Humanitarian Law, or the rules of war, where observers noted that members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines “participated in targeting civilians in various forms: intimidating and threatening candidates, members of party-lists and their supporters via red-tagging, abduction, home visitation by soldiers, and illegal searches.”

The IOM added that the observers reported 218 cases of red-tagging where its common theme “is to associate progressive party-lists with communists and armed struggle.”

IOM Commissioner and former New South Wales, Australia senator Lee Rhiannon said that “the unchecked labeling fostered a climate of fear, suppressed political participation, and severely undermined democratic space.”

The IOM then called for the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC, criminalization of red-tagging, and repeal of the Anti-terror Law of 2020.

Influence of foreign military presence in the PH

The report underscored that the conduct of the Balikatan military exercises from April 21 to May 9 overlapped with the conduct of elections, therefore “posing a threat to the freedom and sovereignty of the elections.”

According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the exercises were joined by 6,000 Philippine personnel and 12,000 US personnel.

“Overinflating the threat of China and manufacturing a "national security emergency” skewed voters’ perception towards pro-US candidates like Marcos’ Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate,” the report added.

Harassment and barring of international poll observers

Lastly, the IOM denounced the red-tagging incidents against international observers and activists. The report noted that Gordon Mutch, a member of the Baltimore Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines who went to observe the elections in the country, was detained at the airport for being tagged for “anti-government activities.”

It noted another incident where the observers were being filmed by armed men in plain clothes while they were interviewing mission respondents. It also slammed an instance where Kontra Daya was red-tagged in a May 19 program.

“This attack, happening just as election monitoring efforts are concluding, reflects a broader effort to discredit and target independent watchdogs and undermine initiatives toward electoral transparency and accountability,” the IOM said.

IOM’s recommendations

With the similarity of findings from the 2022 elections, the IOM said that none of their recommendations from the conduct of the 2022 elections were adopted in the recent elections.

The IOM called for the adoption of a hybrid election system where manual counting is done at the precinct level with the automated electronic transmission of results. Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia previously said that the poll body will support calls for having hybrid elections.

However, Garcia earlier explained that there must be a law mandating the implementation of hybrid elections.

It reiterated its call for the passage of the Anti-Dynasty Law and strong enforcement of sanctions and disqualification of candidates who commit vote-buying.

It also noted that the Comelec must establish a “functioning grievance mechanism” in addressing electoral complaints and uphold its non-partisan character with the appointment of commissioners through an independent process.

Lastly, the observers said that the Philippine government must establish an enabling environment for foreign watchdogs and civil society organizations.

“The use of travel bans and surveillance against solidarity activists and foreign human rights advocates must cease immediately to uphold transparency, democratic accountability, and international standards for election observation,” it added. /mr/abc

(2025/05/27-19:23)