The Philippines voted yesterday in largely peaceful elections in which newly installed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her detained predecessor vied for the hearts and minds of the country's poor.
Polling in the elections, billed as a litmus test of Arroyo's legitimacy and of lingering support for former film star Joseph Estrada, ended with no immediate report of major unrest despite a death toll of 79 in pre-poll political violence.
It was not immediately clear just how many people had turned out to vote for the 13 Senate seats on offer, a new House of Repre-sentatives and for thousands of local posts in the nation of 76 million people.
"I think the elections are successful. Our men in the field were reporting heavy turnouts in voting centers," national police chief General Leandro Mendoza said.
Turnout in past polls has ranged between 75 and 80 percent.
Estrada, who is awaiting trial on economic plunder charges punishable by death or life imprisonment, won power in 1998 with strong support among the urban poor who identified with the underdog action hero he played in many movies. Forced from office by military-backed people power protests in January, he urged his supporters last week to vote against dictatorship.
Arroyo voted in her home town in Pampanga province north of Manila and stressed the importance of the elections. "I hope those who have not voted yet will vote according to their conscience," she said.
Arroyo was expected to win a lower house majority. She hoped to bolster her fledgling administration by winning control of the Senate, where Estrada's wife, Luisa, was running for a seat.
Pundits highlighted a risk of protests by Estrada loyalists if Arroyo was unable to ensure fair and peaceful polling.
Supporters of Estrada tried to storm Arroyo's presidential palace during May Day protests, triggering clashes with riot police in which four people were killed and more than 100 injured.
A total of 13 of the Senate's 24 seats were up for grabs, as well as all 262 seats in the House of Representatives and 17,000 provincial and municipal posts.
Police, witnesses and poll monitors reported peaceful polling, apart from delays caused by confusion over voter registration and scattered and localized incidents of violence.
Fighting among political rivals overnight killed four people in Ilocos Norte Province and three on central Negros Island.
Two mortar shells exploded causing panic during polling in the southern town of Matanog but there were no casualties. Police blamed political rivals and polling continued.
Results for some House seats may have emerged late last night, but results for the Senate race were likely to take several days. Results for local polls were expected to take even longer.
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