Political rivals of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, including two former military officers accused of plotting to overthrow her government, are poised to wrest control of the Senate, officials said yesterday.
As counting in the May 14 mid-term election nears completion amid claims of fraud and vote rigging in some parts of the country, the opposition appears set to dominate the 24-seat Senate while allies of the president will command control of the 275-seat House of Representatives.
Benjamin Abalos, head of the Commission on Elections, expects to proclaim the 12 senatorial winners by tomorrow, commission spokeswoman Maricel Fortuno said.
She said results from just seven remaining provinces out of 81 still have to be tallied.
Arroyo opponents, some of whom have called for her impeachment for alleged vote fraud, need to win eight of the 12 seats in contention to wrest control of the chamber, which would complicate Arroyo's efforts to push through legislation.
On votes already counted, opposition candidates have taken 10 of the 12 Senate seats, but Arroyo allies could possibly claw back two of those after the results from the seven provinces still outstanding are factored in.
Even so, a fifth seat seems out of reach for the Arroyo camp, and her opposition taking at least eight of the 12 available looks to be a certainty.
Mid-term elections were held to elect the 12 senators and hundreds of congressmen, governors and town mayors.
Arroyo allies consolidated their stranglehold on most local executive posts, leaving the Senate as the only potential bastion of leverage for the opposition.
The Commission on Elections said that without a complete count in the House of Representatives race it was "safe to assume that the administration candidates" appeared to have won a majority.
Ex-navy officer Antonio Trillanes, who campaigned for a Senate seat from his cell in a Manila military stockade while on trial for a failed 2003 military rebellion, clung on to 11th place with a 700,000-vote lead over Miguel Zubiri, the nearest pro-Arroyo contender in 13th place.
Trillanes said yesterday his apparent victory symbolized "the yearning of the people for change" and vowed that top of his agenda would be Arroyo's impeachment.
Arroyo has survived two impeachment votes in the House for two years running, emphasizing the importance of her allies maintaining their hold of half of the legislature that initiates impeachment complaints.
As the official count stands, another ex-military officer, Gregorio Honasan who received a presidential pardon in 1993 after leading several bloody coup attempts in the 1980s, seems secure in ninth place to win a second tenure in the Senate.
The delay in the vote count was partly due to the disenfranchisement of millions of voters in troubled Muslim regions of the southern Philippines.
Special elections were held in these areas on May 26 after violence disrupted the May 14 ballot.
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