Latest news with #NationalElections
GMA Network
16-05-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
Gabriela asks Comelec to look into alleged discrepancy in Eleksyon 2025 vote counts
Gabriela Women's Party-list sent a formal letter to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) requesting an investigation into the alleged discrepancy in the vote count during the midterm elections last May 12. The pro-women group claimed that there was a reduction in the number of votes they received. 'On May 12, 2025, as the National Elections commenced, votes were cast and promptly began to be tallied and ranked. At 2:03 AM, the Gabriela Women's Party had garnered 252,562 votes, according to data from COMELEC's transparency media server. However, by 2:20 AM, this number had inexplicably decreased by 49,614 votes," it said in its letter to Comelec chairperson George Garcia, attaching its screenshot of the count. 'This unexplained reduction raises serious concerns about the integrity and transparency of the electoral process. If votes for a sectoral party representing women and other vulnerable sectors can simply vanish without explanation, it risks disenfranchising not only the candidates but the countless women and marginalized communities whose voices they seek to represent,' the letter further read. In an earlier report, Comelec explained the alleged 'discrepancy' in the partial, unofficial tally of votes for Eleksyon 2025. Garcia said entities receiving election returns (ERs) from polling precincts, including the media, should have a software program to "clean" the data and prevent duplication of ERs. "Sumobra, sabi ng 5 million. Sapagkat hindi nagkaroon ng sinasabing program para malinis ang nadodoble as a result of processing. Walang dagdag-bawas na nangyari. Ang pagbabasehan niyo lagi kasi… 'yung Comelec website na nilalabas namin kasi ang Comelec website walang interruption. Tuloy-tuloy na nangyayari," he added. (They say there was an excess of 5 million votes. This happened because no program was in place to clean the duplicate data as a result of the processing. There was no vote shaving, vote padding that happened. You should always base your numbers on... the Comelec website because we don't have any interruption. Our operations are continuous.) Early Tuesday, media outfits found that partial, unofficial results reflected from the Comelec media server showed a decrease in votes despite the continuous increase in the ERs. They discovered that transmissions sent by precincts were duplicated during consolidation in the Comelec's server. According to a report by GMA Integrated News' Joseph Morong, an unnamed poll body official said the alleged discrepancy could be due to an aggregation tool. There was a possibility, the official said, that the data the Comelec sent piled up. Meanwhile, aside from the election-related anomalies, Gabriela noted that it has also been a victim of red-tagging and there were attacks on its members, leaders, and supporters throughout the campaign. 'The Gabriela Women's Party urgently calls on the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to thoroughly investigate these matters and ensure the accuracy and security of transmitted electoral data. GWP also strongly demands the initiation of a manual vote count to verify and uphold the sanctity of the people's vote,' the party said. 'The women who rely on GWP to advocate for their rights in Congress must not be silenced by system errors and targeted attacks,' it added. The letter was penned by party representative Arlene Brosas and first nominee Sarah Jane Elago. —LDF, GMA Integrated News
The Citizen
09-05-2025
- Politics
- The Citizen
Nelspruit Regional Court postpones incitement case to June
A man accused of instigating violence on social media briefly appeared in the Nelspruit Regional Court today, Friday, May 9. The case against Xolani Gregory Khoza (37) was postponed to June 20 as his docket needs to be sent to the senior public prosecutor for a decision on whether he can be tried or not. Khoza was arrested shortly after the National Elections last year when he posted on social media calling for the country to be shut down and for President Cyril Ramaphosa to be removed from his position. He also allegedly challenged the Government of National Unity, saying it was not going to improve the quality of South Africans' lives. Khoza is facing charges of incitement to commit terrorism, public violence and intimidation and is out on R2 000 bail, that was extended during his court appearance today. ALSO READ: UPDATE: Violence instigator remanded in custody in Mbombela The provincial Hawks' spokesperson, Colonel Dineo Sekgotodi, told Lowvelder that Khoza was charged with the contravention of Section 17 of the Riotous Assemblies Act 17 of 1965, Inciting Public Violence. An investigation was initiated and the suspect was identified and arrested for further contravening Section 14 of the Cybercrimes Act 19 of 2020, which says that any person who discloses, by means of an electronic communication, a data message to a person or group of persons or the public in general with the intention to incite violence shall be guilty as charged,' Sekgotodi said at the time. Khoza gained support from various organisations, some of them international, following his arrest. Spartacist South Africa, Marxist Feminist Youth of Azania, the EFF, International Bolshevik Tendency and others are some of the organisations forming part of what has been called 'United Front Protests to defend Xolani Khoza'. ALSO READ: Tonga Magistrate's Court postpones Sonell Joubert's murder case yet again Members of the above organisations staged a protest in support of Khoza outside the court today. 'When I look around, especially where I come from in the Nsikazi Region, there is no development. We still do not have water, health services, usable roads or consistent electricity. These are some of the challenges our communities are facing. I do not want to talk much because my matter is still in court,' said Khoza. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
