Canvass of Votes for President and Vice-President
The final stage of the election now shifts to Congress
for the official canvassing of provincial reports by
the joint houses of Congress. The current debate now
centers on whether Congress should set up a committee
to canvass (as it did in 1992 and 1998) or to let the
entire Congress do the job.
By law, the Senate and the House of Representatives
must convene within 30 days after the elections to canvass
the votes for President and Vice-President. Both chambers
are required to create their respective task forces
to oversee the preparations for the canvassing. The
Senate and the House are expected to approve a joint
resolution constituting both chambers into a National
Canvassing Board when sessions resume on 24 May. The
joint resolution will provide the rules of the joint
public session of Congress on the canvassing of votes.
In the 1998 elections for President and
Vice-President, each candidate was allowed to have two
watchers and one attorney view the entire canvassing
proceedings. A joint committee composed of seven Senators
and seven Representatives appointed by the Senate President
and the House Speaker was created to canvass the reports.
The joint committee was given the power
to decide over all contentions on the Certificates of
Canvass (COCs) subject to the approval of the Senate
and House panel voting separately. In case the two chambers
disagreed, the decision of the Senate President would
prevail. The joint committee met continuously until
all the certificates endorsed by the joint public session
were canvassed.
The joint committee would also submit
a report to terminate the canvass if the total number
of registered voters corresponding to the COCs not yet
submitted no longer affected the result of the election.
The Senate and House Panel, voting separately, decided
on the final report of the joint committee. Once the
final report was approved, the Senate President and
the House Speaker jointly proclaimed the President-elect
and Vice-President-elect. A total of 176 COCs coming
from 79 provinces, 22 highly urbanized cities and districts,
and 74 countries for the Overseas Absentee Voting (including
local absentee voting results) will be opened by Congress
acting as the National Canvassing Board. Congress must
finish its canvass in less than a month to observe the
30 June 2004 requirement of the Consitution for the
start of the term of the new President and Vice-President.
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