Elections were 'marred by fraud and intimidation'

Manila: The Philippines' midterm elections were marred by disorder, mismanagement, and intimidation, a group of foreign observers said yesterday, challenging government claims the voting was free and fair.

Australian law professor Gill Boehringer said the patterns of irregularities on Monday "suggest there has been a climate of cheating, violence, fraud, manipulation, inefficiency, in which I would say it's impossible to have a fair and free election."

Boehringer was among 27 members of the People's International Observer Mission (IOM) - from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Norway, Scotland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States - that observed the elections in seven provinces.

"Contrary to an internationally publicised statement from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that Filipino voters 'cast their ballot, free of coercion and according to their own will,' representatives of the People's IOM witnessed a strikingly different reality," the group said in a statement.