The Philippines' first automated national election this week was largely fair although there were irregularities in the remote southern regions, international election observers said today.
Unofficial tallies from the election commission show Senator Benigno Aquino with a lead of 15 percentage points in the presidential race. Nearly 18,000 local and national positions were on offer in Monday's election.
The Asian Network for Free Election (Anfrel) said voting in remote Muslim communities in the southern Philippines was marred by incidents of violence and fraud, including vote-buying, multiple voting, intimidation and harassment.
"There are glitches, there are some problems which should be rectified, but the election is reasonably acceptable," Nepalese monitor Gopal Siwakoti told a news conference.
"The May 10th elections in the Philippines demonstrated notable progress in ensuring freedom of elections with a reasonably acceptable procedure, yet significant room for attaining international commitments and standards."
Two presidential candidates, who between them have less than 100,000 of the more than 30 million votes counted, have refused to concede to Mr Aquino, saying they doubted the accuracy and credibility of the automated results.
"We are getting the results fast, but fast does not mean accurate," said Nicanor Perlas. "It is premature to say that the elections were fair and honest."
John Carlos de los Reyes rescinded an earlier concession to Mr Aquino after getting reports of possible electoral.
The outgoing speaker of the House of Representatives said he had asked the congressional oversight panel to conduct random audits of Monday's vote to detect any fraud, separate to the election commission's audit of 1.5 per cent of the voting machines.
Allegations of fraud surfaced after transmission of results from provincial tallies was delayed, and following the discovery of dozens of machines at the residence of a technician in a city east of the capital today.
The Anfrel observers showed pictures of voters filling in multiple ballots, children handing out campaign materials and ward leaders distributing cash to people after casting their ballots.
Anfrel sent nearly 40 observers from 16 non-government groups coming from 13 countries to violence-prone provinces across the country, focusing on the autonomous region of Muslim Mindanao.
Reuters