The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said the country's first automated election system succeeded in delivering quick results but glitches and delayed transmissions showed that the entire process has to be fine-tuned.

“The process is by no means over, so the CHR, the media, civil society, other organizations and the people, continue to closely monitor the situation,” CHR Chairwoman Leila M. de Lima said.

“While it is important for results to come in quickly, it is also just as vital if not more so, for these results to be accurate, free from tampering and fraud, and for these results to truly reflect the will of the people,” she said.

Nonetheless, the CHR said despite initial glitches and doubts, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) managed to pull things through, and was thus able to make this historic event a reality. The verdict of many is that the automated elections were generally successful."

The quick broadcast of results came as a pleasant surprise and made it easier for people to know who won and who had to concede. "The reduced total duration of the electoral process lessened the opportunities for cheating and fraud as well as intimidation, harassment and violence at the precinct and canvassing levels. At best, the automated elections greatly reduced the threats to life of election workers because it diluted the avenues for manipulation of results at the precinct level," the CHR said.

The commission thanked the Comelec and the accredited citizens’ arms, such as the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente), and the Citizens’ Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reform (C-CARE) and all volunteers for a job well done.

"The efforts undertaken by these organizations, especially in areas fraught with election-related tension or violence, helped to protect the right of persons to life, security of person, freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly, and freedom of association.  Their voter education campaigns, and dissemination of information and updates, helped breathe life into the right of persons to receive information, and to vote. Much of the general success of the automated elections is rooted in this collective effort on the part of many sectors of Philippine society," De Lima added.

"The CHR particularly commends the members of Boards of Election Inspectors (BEI) and their support staff, who bore the brunt of the work on Election Day, who made adjustments on the ground in order to try to facilitate the flow of voters, who attempted to aid voters who were elderly, pregnant or persons with disabilities, and who in certain cases put their own personal security on the line, in order to safeguard the integrity of the voting process. Much credit for the general success of the polls goes to these teachers who were at the frontline," she stressed.

"Fourth, the CHR is greatly pleased that the 2010 elections finally ushered in the reality of detainee voting, en masse. For far too long, these thousands of individuals have languished behind bars willingly forgotten by society while waiting for their trials to commence or continue. And despite the presumption of their innocence, this segment of the population was repeatedly denied the right to vote. These elections have begun the process of ending this disenfranchisement, and it is hoped that political leaders will now seriously heed the concerns of this group, such as the subhuman conditions to which too many of them are routinely exposed,” De Lima said.

“Credit for this great progress goes to the Comelec, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), and the many other civil society organizations and international institutions, which partnered with the CHR on this initiative," she added.