The delays in the poll body's preparation, lack of public confidence in the election process, and many other electoral concerns, have given the international delegation of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) reasons to be worried about the run-up to the automated elections this May.

Jamie Metzl, one of the delegates sent by NDI in the Philippines, said their pre-election assessment report posed concerns on how the new automated election system (AES) will be implemented by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“We are not here to grade the country's electoral system but we have to give indications where is the Philippines at least. It (AES) needs improvement. Everybody, including the Comelec, all say that is the case,” he said in a media briefing at Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.

Metzl, also the executive vice president of Asia Society, was among the delegates who visited the country since March 6 to observe and gather information about the rundown on what is being undertaken for the first-ever automated elections.

The delegation's work was based on the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation, launched at the United Nations in 2005 and endorsed by NDI and 35 other international and intergovernmental organizations. It has organized over 150 delegations to examine election processes in 52 countries all over the world apart from the Philippines.