Like Caesar’s wife, the election process should be above suspicion. The seven-hour delay in transmission of results and other glitches like defective VCMs and SD cards are unacceptable. 

Bottlenecks invariably occur in EDSA but must not congest the automated election process.

This is the fourth automated elections conducted by the Comelec and it is therefore too late in the electoral process for the poll agency to be caught flat-footed and unprepared. 

What should now have been a seamless exercise was yet again marred by preventable glitches – not just a slight hiccup in the process but a full seven-hour blackout in the release of the initial tallies for which, up to now, the Comelec has yet to provide a convincing explanation.

Millions of ordinary Filipinos have only one chance every three years to directly participate in the democratic process of choosing their leaders. They deserve what the Constitution mandates: a “free, orderly, honest and credible” elections. 

At the end of the day, the delays and glitches may not have compromised the integrity of the automated elections but no amount of explanations by Comelec can assuage the people’s suspicion. It would be best if no preventable glitches occur so that no explanation is necessary and any suspicion is foreclosed.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN