Misuari wins vote in southern RP

Misuari wins vote in southern RP

MANILA (AFP): Former Moro rebel leader Nur Misuari was declared winner yesterday of a vote for governor of a Moslem autonomous region in the southern Philippines, the official election body said.

"We wish to congratulate the winning candidates for governor and vice-governor, Professor Nur Misuari and Guimid Matalam," Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Bernardo Pardo told a news conference.

President Fidel Ramos also congratulated Misuari, chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), for winning Monday's vote in which he and his running mate, Matalam, ran unopposed.

A week earlier the 55-year-old former political science professor had signed a peace pact with the Philippine government, ending a 24-year campaign for a separate state in the south that left 120,000 dead.

Misuari's election is the start of a planned three-year reconstruction period for Mindanao, home to 16.8 million people including most of the 3.5 million Islamic minority.