6
University Daily Kansan
Campus/Area
Wednesday, Feb. 12, 1986
Brier says delegation to election left early
United Press International
TOPEKA — Secretary of State Jack Brier said yesterday that the U.S. delegation that observed the Philippines' presidential election left too soon, missing the procedures in which the potential for wholesale election fraud would be the highest
"It's a very crucial time there right now," said Brier, a member of the U.S. delegation that observed voting last week.
Brier, who observed voting in the capital of Manila said that despite charges of fraud, balloting was more fair than fraudulent. However, he said a larger part of the electoral process in the Philippines involved transporting the ballot boxes from remote areas of the 7,000-island nation and tallying the votes.
"I think it would not have harmed the delegation to stay a couple more days," Brier said. "If I have a criticism, it's that the Philippine people were not reminded that we were there at the invitation of the government, and that we left too soon."
As if bearing out Brier's words, the Philippines parliament, which must decide who won the election between President Ferdinand Marcos and challenger Corazon Aquino, adjourned in a furry of bickering for a second day yesterday without counting any ballots. Both Marcos and Aquino claimed victory, with conflicting unofficial tallies backing both claims.
The National Assembly, dominated by Marcos, met in its second trv to
determine the winner of Friday's election. It *spent most of its six-hour session ceremoniously removing the locks from 13 boxes containing provincial returns.
Members had inspected the contents of only one box before Aquino supporters noted the absence of a quorum and demanded adjournment.
Most of the assembly's 57 opposition members had walked out earlier, and only 78 of the 179 lawmakers remained. Before suspending the session until Wednesday, the legislators relocked the 13 boxes.
Although Brier said the news media distorted and sensationalized some election incidents, he said the media focused world attention on the election, helping keep it free. The intensive news coverage made stealing an election very difficult.
Brier, a Republican election official, said there absolutely was some election fraud, but the question was whether it was enough to thwart the will of the people.
He said he saw no violence. He did see hundreds of Filipinos who were willing to stand in line for hours and be thumped printable and marked with ink to prevent voting twice, just so they could vote and he saw some instances of people trying to buy other people's ballots.
"I come back with more questions than answers," he said.
Brier, who helped observe elections in El Salvador and Guatemala in 1844, said the El Salvador election was more clear cut.
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