The National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections or NAMFREL is an election watchdog in the Philippines. It was the first and one of the most famous election watch campaigns.[1] It is known to have introduced non-partisan national election monitoring to the Philippines after exposing the issues involved with the 1986 Snap Elections.[2]
NAMFREL was co-founded by Jose S. Concepcion Jr., and was its first National Chairperson. NAMFREL was formally organized in October 1983 as an offshoot of the New Voters Registration Committee, which was formed in the 1960s. It currently has the support of more than 140 benefactors and 125 organizations. Its current national chairperson is Augusto C. Lagman. NAMFREL's goal is to ensure "free, orderly and honest elections" in the Philippines. It is a non-partisan organization with over 250,000 member-volunteers from different religious, civic, business, professional, labor, youth, educational, and non-government organizations.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has accredited NAMFREL as its "citizens' arm" since 1986 to conduct manual parallel counts, which it called "Operation Quick Count". In 1986, NAMFREL mobilized 500,000 volunteers nationwide to guard the snap presidential elections. President then dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared himself the winner of the election; the NAMFREL count, however, showed that Corazon Aquino won. In the days that followed, the EDSA People Power revolt took place, sweeping Aquino to power.
For the May 2010 automated Philippine presidential elections NAMFREL was not accredited to conduct its own count. Instead, the organization conducted a nationwide election observation mission called "Bantay ng Bayan" ("sentinels of the people").
Presently, NAMFREL is also active internationally, its officers and volunteers having worked as trainers, observer team members, election administrators and resource persons in 35 countries, and have sent its volunteers as the official Philippine observer delegation to Cambodia during the 1998 parliamentary elections there, as well as in Indonesia in 1999 for the Presidential elections after the fall of Suharto.[3]
^Hedman, Eva-Lotta E. (2006). "1. In the Name of Civil Society". In the name of civil society : from free election movements to people power in the Philippines. Honolulu: Univ. of Hawai'i Press. ISBN0824829212.
^Bjornlund, Eric C. (2004). Beyond free and fair : monitoring elections and building democracy. Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press. p. 210. ISBN0801880483.
national, citizens, movement, free, elections, this, article, uses, bare, urls, which, uninformative, vulnerable, link, please, consider, converting, them, full, citations, ensure, article, remains, verifiable, maintains, consistent, citation, style, several, . This article uses bare URLs which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting such as reFill documentation and Citation bot documentation August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this message The National Citizens Movement for Free Elections or NAMFREL is an election watchdog in the Philippines It was the first and one of the most famous election watch campaigns 1 It is known to have introduced non partisan national election monitoring to the Philippines after exposing the issues involved with the 1986 Snap Elections 2 National Citizens Movement for Free ElectionsFounded10 October 1983TypeNon profitNGOLocationPhilippinesServicesElection monitoringFieldsAdvocacy research activism media exposureKey peopleDavid Balangue Chairperson Websitenamfrel wbr org wbr ph NAMFREL was co founded by Jose S Concepcion Jr and was its first National Chairperson NAMFREL was formally organized in October 1983 as an offshoot of the New Voters Registration Committee which was formed in the 1960s It currently has the support of more than 140 benefactors and 125 organizations Its current national chairperson is Augusto C Lagman NAMFREL s goal is to ensure free orderly and honest elections in the Philippines It is a non partisan organization with over 250 000 member volunteers from different religious civic business professional labor youth educational and non government organizations The Commission on Elections Comelec has accredited NAMFREL as its citizens arm since 1986 to conduct manual parallel counts which it called Operation Quick Count In 1986 NAMFREL mobilized 500 000 volunteers nationwide to guard the snap presidential elections President then dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared himself the winner of the election the NAMFREL count however showed that Corazon Aquino won In the days that followed the EDSA People Power revolt took place sweeping Aquino to power For the May 2010 automated Philippine presidential elections NAMFREL was not accredited to conduct its own count Instead the organization conducted a nationwide election observation mission called Bantay ng Bayan sentinels of the people Presently NAMFREL is also active internationally its officers and volunteers having worked as trainers observer team members election administrators and resource persons in 35 countries and have sent its volunteers as the official Philippine observer delegation to Cambodia during the 1998 parliamentary elections there as well as in Indonesia in 1999 for the Presidential elections after the fall of Suharto 3 In 1998 NAMFREL representatives attended the International IDEA conference in Copenhagen See also editPhilippine electoral crisis 2005References edit Hedman Eva Lotta E 2006 1 In the Name of Civil Society In the name of civil society from free election movements to people power in the Philippines Honolulu Univ of Hawai i Press ISBN 0824829212 Bjornlund Eric C 2004 Beyond free and fair monitoring elections and building democracy Washington D C Woodrow Wilson Center Press p 210 ISBN 0801880483 http www namfrel com ph v2 aboutus history phpExternal links editOfficial NAMFREL Website PCIJ profile of Jose S Concepcion Jr Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title National Citizens 27 Movement for Free Elections amp oldid 1217547566, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
