Ramos allies keep lead in senatorial elections

Ramos allies keep lead in senatorial elections

MANILA (AFP): Special congressional and local elections were
held in two predominantly-Moslem provinces in the southern
Philippines on Saturday as allies of President Fidel Ramos
maintain their lead in the slow count of senatorial votes.

Spokesmen of the (Comelec) said special polls were being held
in Sulu and Maguindanao after the elections there on May 8 were
declared void due to cheating and fighting between rival Moslem
political factions.

The results of the two special elections as well as the vote
tally from a third Moslem province, Lanao del Sur, will only be
brought to the capital for inclusion in the national count next
week, delaying the final tally of votes even further.

With votes from 98 percent of the country's electoral
precincts counted, pro-administration candidates are still
holding nine of the 12 senate seats being contested.

Only three opposition senatorial candidates, anti-graft
crusader Miriam Santiago, rightist military coup-plotter Gregorio
Honasan and feminist Dominique Coseteng, were still in the
winning frame at the seventh, eighth and twelfth positions
respectively.

Comelec spokesmen said they hope to finish the slow manual
count within the month and to proclaim the winners a day or two
later.

Comelec had admitted that they were doing a recheck of the
vote tally after discrepancies were found in several of the
certificates of canvass turned in but so far, they had not
discovered any signs of massive cheating.

Ramos has hailed the results of the elections, saying that the
apparent victory of many of his allies in the congressional race
has given him a new mandate.

However, many of the losing candidates have filed protests
over alleged cheating.

One involves a protest filed by pro-Ramos senatorial candidate
Aquilino Pimentel against fellow administration bet Juan Ponce
Enrile.

Pimentel, who is fourteenth in the race, is charging Enrile,
who is tenth, of having cheated so that votes cast for Pimentel
were counted in his favor.