8 groups to participate in source code review of poll machines

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has accredited eight groups that will participate in the local source code review of the automated election system (AES) to be used in the May 2016 polls.

Comelec Commissioner Luie Guia said the poll agency has accredited eight groups, mostly political parties, to assess the integrity of the AES.

These political parties are Liberal Party (LP), United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), Unang Sigaw (Nueva Ecija local party), Bagong Bayan Party, and Lakas–CMD.

The Comelec also accredited the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) to participate in the source code review.

The source code is the human readable instructions that dictate what the automated election system will do.

Section 12 of the RA 9369 states that the commission shall “promptly make the source code available and open to any interested party or group, which may conduct their own review.”

Guia admitted that while they were satisfied with the eight groups, they were hoping that more groups would participate.

“In principle, we want to be as inclusive as we possibly can. We were hoping that there will be more,” said Guia.

The Comelec is holding a source code review briefing for all stakeholders today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday).

The local source code review will begin on October 12 at the De La Salle University (DLSU) in Manila.

“That will be the first phase and will involve the baseline source codes,” said Guia.

On the other hand, the second phase will involve the customized and configured source code of the AES.

The review will cover the source codes of the vote counting machines, consolidated canvassing system, and election management system.