Muslims go to polls in southern Philippines local election

Aug 11, 2008, 3:58 GMT

Cotabato City, Philippines - Muslims in an autonomous region in the southern Philippine voted on Monday for their leaders as government troops and Islamic secessionist rebels clashed in a nearby province.

Jose Melo, chairman of the Commissions on Elections, said polling precincts opened on time with little violence and disruptions in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and voter turnout appears to be very good.

The region is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Sharif Kabunsuan, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu and Basilan. It has a total population of more than 4.1 million and some 1.6 million registered voters.

Melo said there were no problems apart from a disturbance in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila, where one civilian was killed Sunday night

'So far the report we have received is that people are lining up to vote all over ARMM,' he said. 'This is a very good sign.'

'It seems that we are having a good election and the people, our brothers and sisters, in the south are showing us the way,' Melo added.

The ARMM elections are the first automated polls ever held in the Philippines and election officials said the voting would be 'an acid test' to a plan to fully automate presidential elections in 2010.

The elections are being held despite fighting between government troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels in nearby North Cotabato province, which is not part of the ARMM.

But authorities said the clashes were limited to North Cotabato and had not spilled over to ARMM areas.