The pain and frustration of a new automated voting system in the Philippines were drowned out by surprisingly strong voter turnout on Monday.
With more than half the votes tallied, Liberal party bet Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino vice presidential bet and Makati Mayor Jejomor Binay were in the lead.
Aquino got 8,958,396 (40.58 percent); former president Joseph Estrada with 5,678,821 (25.72 percent); Senator Manny Villar with 3,058,942 (13.85 percent); Gilberto Teodoro 2,347,274 (10.63 percent); and Eddie Villanueva with 684,722 (3.10 percent).
According to the Commission on Elections, 75 percent of registered voters made their way to polling stations, shrugging off concerns of massive election fraud and violence.
"We are all happy about it," said Comelec chairman Jose Melo, who was expecting a mere turnout of 50 percent. "It seems to be a victory for the Filipino people with God's help."
A user on Yahoo, identified only as "Bgen Sniper" told the community, "The best thing for us guys to do is respect the election results." Bgen wrote on our blog, "Whoever will be chosen to lead our country for the next 6 years is the voice of the Filipino majority and not by one… What matters is everyone in this chatroom has exercised their right to suffrage. Good luck to our chosen."
Rage Against The Machines
Voters fought off new technology, introduced through electronic balloting machines, which in many occasions completely failed under the heat, humidity and seemingly poor preparation.
Queues were so long at several precincts that some frustrated voters just gave up and went home in the morning. Many of those who voted said they had to wait as long as three hours to cast their ballots. Given the slow progress, the election authority extended voting by one extra hour to 7 p.m. to accommodate the long queues.
Senior citizens also struggled with the ballot sheets. "Voting here at the Negros Oriental State University, Bais City is very slow due to the small prints in the ballot," wrote Yahoo! user Felipe T. Pacurib, Jr. on the Purple Thumb live blog. The elderly couldn't cast their vote within 8 minutes as allotted by election rules, he said.
Violence and Dirty Tricks
Fears of a troubled election were also raised after an "early failure" was declared for Pagsanjan, Samar and Gimbal, Ilo-ilo after their ballots were "inadvertently" switched.
At least nine people were killed while 12 others were wounded in violence across the country. Still, the Philippine National Police declared this election as "the most peaceful" in light of the country's difficult history when it came to polls. "We have an overall decrease of 200 percent in election-related violence as compared with the 2004 and 2007 elections," the authorities said.
The morning was also marred by reports of rampant vote buying.
Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) chair Henrietta De Villa toldreporters just hours after voting started, "Election cheats have to revert aggressively to vote buying. I'm not happy about this."
De Villa cited several incidents in which campaign volunteers were reportedly offering a bag of groceries in exchange for votes. In Palawan, there were also reports that the vote price rose to P3,000, said De Villa.
As Comelec concludes the canvassing on Election Day, the official votes counted for the country's new president are:
Aquino
8,958, 396 (40.58 %)
Estrada
5, 678, 821 (25.72 %)
Villar
3, 058, 942 (13.85 %)
Teodoro
2, 347, 274 (10.63 %)
By Alan Soon & Thea Alberto
