ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of what PollWatch is and shows how it works in its assigned duties. It examines how PollWatch expanded beyond the mandates granted by Prime Ministers Anand Panyarachun and Chuan Leekpai to become part of a much broader movement for democratic politics beyond elections. The chapter also shows how PollWatch both confirms and calls into question hegemonic understandings of civil society and also examines general concepts of civil society. It looks at a prime example of civil society's workings in the Philippines, before returning to the analysis of PollWatch in particular. To understand the relationship between the three groups, Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Philippine politics, the chapter examines their historical development in civil society. In the 1992 and 1995 elections there were three Comelec-accredited citizens' arms: National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and the Voters' Organisation, Training and Education for Clean Authentic and Responsible Elections (Votecare).
