BY GERARD NAVAL

COMELEC chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. yesterday assured the opposition that it will receive the 6th copy of the election returns (ERs) "to preserve check and balance" in the May 14 elections.

"The purpose of giving the two parties a piece of the election return is for check and balance. We want to preserve this so we are giving one to the opposition and one for the administration," he said.

Abalos said last month that the opposition was in danger of not receiving the 6th copy of the ERs because the Omnibus Election Code says the "dominant minority party" is entitled to the sixth copy.

He said the "dominant minority party" does not necessarily mean the opposition in a multi-party system.

The dominant majority and minority parties are determined on basis of the number of elected officials belonging to them as well as their ability to field candidates.

At that time, Abalos said the party with the largest number of elected members is the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) while the party with the second biggest number officials is a toss-up between Kampi and the National People’s Coalition (NPC). All three parties are identified with the administration.

He added the United Opposition (UNO), which registered as a coalition, is not recognized as a political party so it is ineligible to receive a copy of the election returns.

At yesterday’s en banc meeting, the commission urged political parties to "decide among themselves" on who will be recognized as dominant majority and dominant minority parties to spare Comelec from making the decision.

Opposition lawyer Sixto Brillantes said the opposition has been "historically" recognized as the dominant minority party and it should remain that way.

He said opposition parties are inclined to push for United Opposition as the "dominant minority party" as it is the only one registered as a political coalition.

Early this month, Lakas-CMD and UNO filed petitions to be recognized as dominant majority and minority parties.

The commission en banc gave the parties five days to submit position papers justifying their intention to be accredited as one of the six major political parties entitled to deploy poll watchers.

Of the 35 parties invited, only 12 were represented by respective lawyers.

During the hearing, Brillantes said the newly signed Republic Act 9369 or the Automated Election System indicates that instead of only six poll watchers, there should be eight, to be made up of the dominant majority and minority parties’ watchers plus the six other major political parties.

Abalos said they will be reviewing the law as some of the commissioners are not aware of the provision cited by Brillantes.