As in many other countries, election management in the Philippines was not always entrusted to an independent Constitutional body. Before the creation of the COMELEC in 1940, the responsibility for running elections fell upon the Executive Bureau – an office under the Department of the Interior. Upon the abolition of the Bureau, the Secretary of the Interior assumed the task directly, exercising immediate supervision over all government officials designated by law to perform election duties.

However, the close political relationship between the Secretary of the Interior and the President engendered the apprehension that elections could easily be subverted to serve the interests of the incumbent. This led to the widespread perception that elections were tainted with partisan bias, and could therefore not be free and honest.

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