Lawmakers will convene a week earlier than scheduled for official tallying of votes from national elections enabling the early proclamation of Senator Benigno Aquino as president. -- PHOTO: AFP
MANILA - PHILIPPINE lawmakers will convene a week earlier than scheduled for official tallying of votes from national elections, officials said on Saturday, enabling the early proclamation of Senator Benigno Aquino as president.
The smooth transfer of power in six weeks after a credible election process that produced a clear winner is widely seen as a positive development for improving long-term investor perceptions.
Prospero Nograles, speaker of the House of Representatives, told reporters lawmakers will also look into allegations of fraud by losing candidates, including former president Joseph 'Erap' Estrada, running second in the presidential contest.
Mr Estrada has refused to concede despite Aquino's more than 5 million votes margin in unofficial tallies, saying he will only accept defeat once the official tallying of votes is done by a joint session of Congress, which had been set to begin on May 31.
'Our target is June 4,' Mr Nograles said, referring to when the president and vice-president would be officially named. 'We will not sacrifice accuracy for speed.' He added his counterpart in the upper house of Congress, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, had agreed to start tallying votes from 274 provinces, cities and foreign missions on May 24. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has said discrepancies only amounted to around 150,000 votes, not nearly enough to affect the overall result of the presidential election. Analysts say despite some controversy and challenges - entirely normal in the rough-and-tumble world of Philippine politics - the smooth elections had been a boost for markets. On Saturday, Comelec declared the winners for nine of 12 seats in the upper house of Congress after tallying about 93 per cent of 35.27 million votes. -- REUTERS
