Monday, November 29, 1999

Filipinos start voting to elect new President

News posted by www.newsinfoline.com

Filipinos began voting early on Monday for a successor to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, hoping a new automated voting system worked smoothly and anxious to avoid the fraud and violence that has marked previous ballots.More than 50 million people in the poor southeast Asian nation are eligible to vote for a President, Vice President and nearly 18,000 other local and national positions.There were lengthy queues soon after polling booths opened at 7 a.m. (2300 GMT Sunday). Voting closes at 6 p.m.Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, son of democracy icon Cory Aquino, is the favourite to become president after two main opinion polls showed he had a lead of about 20 points over his nearest rivals. Former president Joseph Estrada, who was removed from power by an army-backed popular uprising in 2001 and later convicted of plunder before being pardoned, has gained late momentum to catch up with former frontrunner Senator Manny Villar.Gilberto Teodoro, candidate of the outgoing administration, is placed fourth with single-digit levels of support in opinion polls, while five other candidates registered minimal support.A clear and accepted winner would be the most favourable outcome for investors, unless it was Estrada, while a disputed or inconclusive outcome would be expected to weaken markets.Fighting corruption and reducing poverty had been the key themes of the campaigns, but candidates have not been specific on details, including how to tackle a large budget deficit. The use of a new and untested automated voting system is a major risk for the election.Concerns about the system intensified after the recall of more than 76,000 memory chips after a fault was discovered last week, and there have been other technical problems.Either a failure of the machines or a failure of people to understand the new voting system could lead to a disputed result, which could in turn lead to political instability and unrest.Arroyo was among the early voters on Monday. Term limits prevent her from running again, but she is running for a seat in the lower house of Congress, as are a number of family members.Analysts and opponents have said she wants to become speaker of the lower house so that she can block any investigation into her administration and even engineer a shift to a parliamentary system where she could be prime minister.(Reporting by John Mair; Editing by Megan Goldin)

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