Estrada warns poll cheaters

Estrada warns poll cheaters

MANILA (Reuters): Joseph Estrada, whom many in the Philippines except his top rival believe has won the presidential election, warned officials not to cheat him of victory.

An unofficial count showed him leading by over one million votes. But House Speaker Jose de Venecia, the ruling party candidate and outgoing President Fidel Ramos's preferred successor, has brushed off Estrada's claim to victory because only a fraction of the 27 million votes cast in Monday's election had been counted.

Scorned by the elite but loved by the poor, Vice-President and ex-film star Estrada called on officials in charge of the vote count, "not to throw away (your) careers to a politician who will lose this election."

The latest tally by a government-sanctioned private group showed Estrada had 2.1 million votes, far ahead of de Venecia, who had dropped to fourth place with 729,000 votes. Businessman Lito Osmena had shot up to second place with 787,000 votes.