Philippines President Gloria Maca-pagal Arroyo leaped to a formidable lead in an unofficial count of last week's Philippine elections, but allegations of cheating are keeping the temperature high and portending six years of political division.
Arroyo looked closer to sealing a fresh term yesterday as she pulled ahead of her film star rival, Fernando Poe, by 14 percentage points with nearly one-third of the ballots counted by an independent watchdog.
Poe's camp, which has joined Arroyo's three other challengers in accusing her administration of widespread fraud, was due to give details of its allegations to the media later in the day.
The official count from the May 10 national elections may take until early next month to confirm who won the presidency, vice presidency and a dozen seats in the Senate, leaving Filipinos and foreign investors on tenterhooks.
Ignacio Bunye, Arroyo's spokesman, called on the opposition to "dump the hysterics" and focus on national development.
"Let us set aside our personal interest and consider the welfare of the Filipino people, who have suffered the brunt of selfish ambitions and sinister plans that erode political and economic stability," he said in a statement.
Elections in the Philippines are always unruly, with bribery and violence relatively common during the campaign and disputes and lawsuits rife afterwards.
While a history of two popular uprisings and at least nine troop mutinies raises the potential for unrest, the streets are calm and the military insists its chain of command is solid.
The National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAM-FREL) said there had been some cheating in races for thousands of local posts but that it had seen no evidence to support opposition claims of systematic fraud to ensure an Arroyo victory.
"This is not fair to the voters," said Guillermo Luz, secretary general of the poll watchdog. "I think they deserve better behavior from politicians making sloppy allegations without proof."
NAMFREL, whose "quick counts" have mirrored the official tally in past elections, said yesterday morning that Arroyo had pulled ahead of Poe by 46 percent to his 32 percent.
The watchdog hopes to finish its count later this week but Arroyo's lead was even larger than a nine-point victory predicted by an exit survey of voters last week by a leading pollster.
A convincing win would give Arroyo the mandate she lacked when she took over as president in early 2001 after Joseph Estrada.
The unofficial vote count suggests her allies will strengthen their clout in the Senate, allowing Arroyo to push reforms aimed at huge debts, corruption, poverty and a sluggish economy.
Newspaper commentator Ana Marie Pamintuan yesterday expressed little hope of any change in the country's political traditions.
"You wonder why anyone would spend billions to lead this ungovernable country," she wrote in the Philippine Star. "People seek public office for all the wrong reasons -- not to serve, to do good for the greatest number or earn a place in history, but to enrich themselves as well as their relatives and friends."
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