Millions of Filipinos seeking a clean start after a decade of corruption-tainted politics voted in elections today despite scattered violence and glitches with vote-counting machines being used for the first time.
At least seven people were killed and eight wounded today, in addition to about 30 people gunned down in the last three months in violence tied to the election, police said.
A marine and a civilian acting as a congressional candidate’s bodyguards were killed in a clash outside a police station in Bacoor township in Cavite province, south of Manila.
Troops and gunmen exchanged fire in southern Maguindanao province, where 57 people were massacred in the country’s worst election-related attack last year, said an army spokesman. Two civilians also were killed in fighting between armed followers of rival candidates for vice mayor, he said.
About 130 deaths preceded the last vote in 2007.
Benigno Aquino III - whose father was assassinated while opposing a dictatorship and whose late mother led the “people power” revolt that restored freedoms - commanded a large lead in the presidential race, according to the last pre-election polls.
About 50 million registered voters out of a population of 90 million will elect politicians for posts from the presidency to municipal councils.
In a country where celebrities commonly seek office, former first lady Imelda Marcos is running for a seat, as is boxing star Manny Pacquiao in his second congressional bid.
But even Mr Aquino was unable to immediately cast his ballot, because a vote-counting machine broke down in his precinct. The Elections Commission extended voting for another hour to make up for delays.
For the first time, optical scanning machines will count votes in 76,000 precincts. A software glitch discovered a week ago nearly derailed the vote, but was fixed at the last minute. Still, some machines malfunctioned in the tropical humidity, including in Mr Aquino’s hometown of Tarlac, north of Manila.
“This is a new system of voting. We have a longer ballot, so I hope all the people can vote and not be delayed and I hope there will be no long lines of
people outside when the voting ends,” Mr Aquino told reporters. He and others filed out their ballots nearly five hours later but they will have to be counted by hand unless the machine is replaced.
In the past, manual counts in the world’s second-biggest archipelago delayed results for weeks and were prone to fraud. Officials are now expecting early tallies just hours after polls close.
Election commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said about 300 out of 76,000 machines had problems but that most were already replaced, adding that the problems were “not as widespread as it’s made to appear”.
Former election commission chairman Christian Monsod said the long lines of voters represented “a celebration of democracy.”
The country’s next leader will face multiple insurgencies. Muslim rebels and al-Qaeda-linked militants have long staged terrorist attacks and hostage raids from jungle hideouts in the south, where US troops have been training Filipino soldiers.
The next leader also faces entrenched corruption. Outgoing president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been accused of vote-rigging in 2004 and implicated in several scandals that led to coup attempts and moves to impeach her. Calls for her prosecution have been an important campaign issue. She denies any wrongdoing and is in running for a seat in the House of Representatives.
AP