EU EOM urges Philippines to implement electoral reforms

By Rosemarie A. Zamora 

The Philippines held its national mid-term elections on May 12, 2025, in which millions of Filipino voters chose officials both nationally and locally. 

During the conduct of the elections, long-term and short-term observers from the European Union visited the country to witness and assess the elections from start to finish.

Recently, the European Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) released its final report on the midterm elections, which presented the mission’s findings and conclusions while observing the elections.

EU EOM hails ‘successful’ midterm elections

The EU EOM said the conduct of the 2025 midterm elections was “operationally successful”.

The mission particularly commended the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for its efficient conduct of the elections, while also acknowledging its effort to take proactive measures to promote inclusiveness and address vote-buying practices.

The mission also welcomed Comelec’s efforts to introduce resolutions prior to the elections that included changes to out-of-country voting, digital campaigning, disinformation, artificial intelligence, and campaign activities.

It also praised the country’s fight against disinformation as it acknowledged the establishment of a task force that collaborated with 24 organisations to identify and remove harmful content.

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Challenges and issues

Despite the successful elections, the EU EOM said electoral reforms are still needed to enhance transparency, foster participation and consolidate the legal framework governing elections in the country, as it notes several issues in the country’s electoral system.

One key issue mentioned in the report was the seemingly outdated provisions of the 1985 Omnibus Election Code. 

It said that several issues remain unaddressed, including a comprehensive regulation of political parties and provisions to curb the dominance of political families.

The EU EOM also flagged Comelec’s rejection of “nuisance candidates” based on a subjective assessment of their credibility, which posed challenges to newcomers as it limits political pluralism and establishes an uneven playing field.

While the mission acknowledged that the freedom of the press was respected during the campaign, it noted that long-standing challenges persisted, including attacks and intimidation against journalists, economic vulnerability and a prevailing culture of impunity.

EU EOM offers 21 recommendations

In its final report, the mission asked the government to review the electoral legal framework and urged reforms to address challenges such as electoral violence, the concentration of political power among a few families, vote buying, and a legal framework marked by significant gaps and ambiguities.

To address these issues, the EU EOM listed 21 recommendations for the consideration of the government and others involved. 

Among the priorities are the need to recodify and harmonise the legal framework to remove discrepancies and inconsistencies, remove restrictions on the rights to vote for imprisoned citizens, repeal criminal defamation provisions in favor of civil sanctions, elucidate upon decisions on the rejection of candidates in the legal framework, achieve gender parity and alternation in elected and appointed positions, and ensure secrecy of the vote for all voters.

Chief Observer Marta Temido said she hopes the Philippines will continue its reform journey. 

“I am confident that the Philippines will continue their reform journey. Core principles such as transparency, inclusivity, secrecy of the vote, and freedom of expression are central to these reforms” she said.

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