Philippine vote tally near end; Aquino has big lead

Manila: Senator Benigno Aquino III's victory in the Philippine election was all but confirmed by the Congress's official tally on Thursday, with the count near an end and his official declaration as President due early next week.

The canvass showed Aquino had 12.73 million votes, or 42 percent of 30.28 million votes tallied by Thursday afternoon, more than 4.5 million ahead of his nearest rival, former President Joseph Estrada, who had 8.14 million or 26.9 percent.

The poll agency has estimated around 38 million people cast their ballots on May 10. Its unofficial tally in the days after the election showed Aquino leading by more the 5 million votes.

Senate majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri told reporters the canvass would be completed by Thursday evening and Aquino could be officially declared winner on Monday or Tuesday, four weeks after the vote and three weeks ahead of the June 30 deadline.

Less than a quarter of the 278 tallies from cities, provinces and foreign missions were still to be counted, including 7 that were deferred due to incomplete documents.

"We can do all that very quickly so we can continue the proclamation early next week," Zubiri said.

He said the canvassing panel would not entertain protests or complaints that could delay the tally, saying candidates had to file cases with the Supreme Court for a recount or scrutiny of the ballots.

Improbable turnout

The race for vice-president was much closer, with Estrada's deputy Jejomar Binay leading Manual Roxas, Aquino's Liberal Party running mate, by around 130,000 votes on Thursday afternoon.

Lawyers and allies of Roxas questioned the high turnout of nearly 98 percent in some provinces in the south, as well as the large numbers of invalidated ballots.

"Based on our estimates, there were about 2.9 million votes for the vice president position that were not counted properly and we believe that these can change the outcome of the elections," said Florencio Abad, the party's campaign manager.

"It's either the automated election system was defective or someone had manipulated those machines to favour certain candidates."

On Thursday, about 82,000 people in seven towns in the central and southern Philippines were able to vote after election failure was declared in the areas on May 10 due to violence and logistical problems.