PSA: Bangsamoro polls random manual audit 99.9% accurate

Data from the PSA’s summary report on variance and accuracy rate showed that the audit covered 100 percent, or 21 out of 21, of the selected sample clustered precincts under the BARMM parliamentary polls.

STAR / File

MANILA, Philippines — The Random Manual Audit conducted for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary election yielded an overall accuracy rate of 99.99561 percent, based on the results from all 21 BARMM sample clustered precincts audited as of Sept. 23, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Data from the PSA’s summary report on variance and accuracy rate showed that the audit covered 100 percent, or 21 out of 21, of the selected sample clustered precincts under the BARMM parliamentary polls.

The audit found no variance between the automated election system (AES) results and the manual count for two of the three positions reviewed.

For the regional parliament political party race, the AES and manual audit both recorded 7,614 votes, resulting in an accuracy rate of 100 percent. Similarly, the AES and manual count for the member of parliament from the sectoral group for settler communities both tallied 12,006 votes, also posting an accuracy rate of 100 percent.

The only discrepancy was recorded in the district representative to the Bangsamoro parliament race, wherein the AES count showed 7,592 votes while the manual audit recorded 7,591 votes, reflecting a variance of one vote and an accuracy rate of 99.98683 percent.

The PSA reported that the overall variance across the audited positions amounted to a single vote.

The random manual audit is conducted to verify the accuracy of election returns generated by the automated election system by comparing them with manually counted ballots from randomly selected precincts.

The 80 winners in the Bangsamoro parliamentary polls will be formally sworn in on Oct. 30 and will later select the head of the regional government. Their mandate will cover a five-year period, with their term scheduled to conclude on June 30, 2031.

The BARMM conducted its inaugural parliamentary elections on Sept. 14, drawing 2,018,478 voters, or an equivalent of 84.34 percent of the region’s 2.393 million registered voters.

Meanwhile, President Marcos congratulated interim BARMM chief minister and Bangsamoro Federalist Party chairman Abdulraof Macacua for what the administration described as the “successful” conduct of the first parliamentary polls on Wednesday at Malacañang. –  Alexis Romero