An international group will begin next month an evaluation of the May 10 national and elections, according to an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the evaluation of the May 10 polls will be conducted by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).

“The evaluation will end by the start of November. That time, it will submit already to the Comelec the report. They will have two full months to evaluate,” he said.

Sarmiento said IFES was selected to conduct the evaluation due to their known non-partisan stance and advocacy for the exercise of democracy.

“It is known in many countries and has been lauded for its democratic initiatives. They are not identified to any political party or partisan group so it is in the best position to conduct the evaluation and audit,” he said.

Sarmiento also assured IFES of the Comelec’s cooperation in conducting the evaluation by giving  them access to their personnel (field and head offices) as well as to their records.

The poll official, meantime, revealed that the evaluation to be conducted by IFES will be done for free and at no cost to the commission.

Sarmiento said the Terms of Reference for the evaluation is already being finalized before the September start of the evaluation.

Among the probable areas where the conduct will cover is the use of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, the clustering of precincts, and the overall conduct of the elections.