Election Contests Prepared By: Jessa Alvarez
Election Contests Prepared By: Jessa Alvarez
Election Contests Prepared By: Jessa Alvarez
Denition
ELECTION CONTESTS
Proceedings Appeal/ Certiorari/ Mandamus/ Prohibition Certiorari (from COMELEC decisions) Election Protest/ Quo Warranto Appeal/ Certiorari/ Mandamus/ Prohibition Certiorari (from COMELEC decisions)
Jurisdiction COMELEC
These are adversarial proceedings by which matters involving the title or claim to an elective oce, made before or after proclamation of the winner, is settled whether or not the contestant is claiming the oce in dispute. The purpose of an election contest is to ascertain the candidate lawfully elected to oce.
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RTC COMELEC
Nature
Summary proceeding of a political character. An election contest is imbued with public interest. The election contest must be liberally construed to favor the will of the people. An election contest may not be defeated by mere technical objections. Until and unless the election protest is decided against him, a person who has been proclaimed as duly elected has the lawful right to assume and perform the duties and functions of the oce. Elective Municipal Ofcials
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Purpose
To ascertain the candidate lawfully elected to oce.
Elective Regional, Provincial, City Ofcials Members of the House of Representative Members of the Senate
Election Protest/ Quo Warranto Certiorari Election Protest/ Quo Warranto Certiorari (from HRET) Election Protest/ Quo Warranto Certiorari (from SET)
President and VP
Jurisdiction
Parties Proceedings Election Protest/ Quo Warranto Elective Barangay PAGE 1 OF 4
Ofcials
Supreme Court
Jurisdiction MeTC/MCTC in cities/MTC/ MCTC The Supreme Court, sitting en banc, shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and disqualications of the President, Vice-President, and may promulgate its rules for such purpose. (Art. VII, Sec. 4, 1987 Constitution)
ELECTION CONTESTS
Election Protests Any candidate who has led a certicate of candidacy and has been voted upon for the same oce, and who has not himself caused or contributed to the irregularities or frauds of which he complains
The Senate and the House of Representatives have their own electoral tribunals. Each electoral tribunal has 9 members: 3 Supreme Court Justices, 6 members of the Senate or House of Representatives, as the case may be, who shall be chosen on the basis of proportional representation from the political parties and the parties or organizations registered under the party-list system represented therein. (Art. VI, Sec. 17, 1987 Constitution) For purposes of election contests cognizable by the Electoral Tribunals, the rules of procedure of such tribunals shall prevail over the provisions of the Omnibus Election Code. (Lazatin v. HRET, 168 SCRA 39)
Who may le
COMELEC
The COMELEC has exclusive original jurisdiction over all election contests relating to the elections, returns, and qualications of all elective: (1)Regional Ocials; (2) Provincial Ocials; and (3) City Ocials Decisions in these cases may be appealed to the Supreme Court. The COMELEC has appellate jurisdiction over all contests involving elective municipal ocials decided by trial courts of general jurisdiction (i.e., Regional Trial Courts) or involving elective barangay ocials decided by trial courts of limited jurisdiction (i.e., the Municipal Trial Courts). Decisions, nal orders, or rulings of the COMELEC on election contests involving elective municipal and barangay oces shall be nal, executory and not appealable. (Sec. 2, Art. IX-C, 1987 Constitution) Note, however, that this does not preclude a recourse to the Supreme Court by way of a special civil action for certiorari. (Galido v. COMELEC, 193 SCFA 78) Period of Filing Grounds
Fraud, terrorism, irregularities or illegal acts committed before, during or after the casting and counting of votes
PRECLUDES the subsequent ling of a pre-proclamation controversy or amounts to an abandonment of one earlier led, thus depriving the COMELEC of the authority to inquire into and pass upon the title of the protestee or the validity of his proclamation.
Exceptions:
BOC was improperly constituted QW not the proper remedy What was led was not really a petition for QW or an election protest but a petition to annul a proclamation Filing of an EC was expressly made without prejudice to the pre-proclamation controversy, or was made ad cautelam Proclamation was null and void
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ELECTION CONTESTS
running of the period to le an election protest. The Director of the Election Contest and Adjudication Department (ECAD) shall immediately docket the Protest and rae the case to either the First or Second Division of the Commission.
protests, the Clerk of the Commission or the Division concerned shall issue the corresponding summons to the protestee or respondent, together with a copy of the protest, requiring the ling of an answer within a non-extendible period of ve days from notice. Whenever the allegations in the protest or counter-protest so warrant and when it nds the same necessary, the Commission may order the production and custody of ballot boxes, election documents, data storage devices, and machines used in the elections.
Regional, Provincial, City (COMELEC Resolution 8804) Who may le: by any candidate who was voted for in the
same oce and who received the second of third highest number of votes or, in a multi-slot position, was among the next four candidates following the last ranked winner duly proclaimed.
on the date specied in the preliminary conference order, unless rescheduled by Order of the Division.
The committee shall prepare and submit to the Commission a recount report per precinct.
ELECTION CONTESTS
of evidence on all matters or issues raised in the protect and counter-protests shall be presented and oered in a hearing upon completion of (a) the recount of ballots, or re-tabulation of election documents, or (b) the technical examination, if warranted.
Death of Protestant
The death of the protestant does not extinguish an election protest. An election protest is imbued with public interest which raises it onto a plane over and above ordinary civil actions, because it involves not only the adjudication of the private interest of the rival candidates but also the paramount need of dispelling once and for all the uncertainty that beclouds the real choice of the electorate with respect to who shall discharge the prerogatives of the oce within their gift. (De Castro v. COMELEC, 267 SCRA 806) However, it is not the heirs of the deceased who shall be the successors-in-interest to the suit, but the succeeding candidateelect. For example, if the deceased was a candidate for governor, the real party in interest in the continuation of the proceedings is the Vice-Governor-elect, as he or she will succeed in the event that the protestant is declared to be the person lawfully elected to the oce.
Award of damages
Actual or compensatory damages may be granted in all election contests or in quo warranto proceedings in accordance with law. (Sec. 259, B.P. 881)
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