Clashes mar elections in Philippine Muslim region, two dead (Roundup)

Aug 11, 2008, 10:45 GMT

Cotabato City, Philippines - Elections on Monday in an autonomous Muslim region in the southern Philippines were marred by clashes between government troops and Islamic secessionist rebels that left at least two people dead.

The clashes occurred in Tipo-Tipo town in the province Basilan, 900 kilometres south of Manila, where the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) declared a failure of elections in two villages due to the disruption, Marine Colonel Rustico Guerrero said.

'The rebels were out to disrupt the elections,' he said.

Guerrero said one Marine and one Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel were killed in separate clashes in Tipo-Tipo as hundreds of thousands of Filipino Muslims voted for a governor, vice governor and three regional lawmakers.

COMELEC Chairman Jose Melo said despite the incident in Basilan and scattered reports of ballot snatching, the election in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was generally calm and peaceful.

Voter turn-out was estimated at 50 per cent, a high turnout in the strife-torn region, Melo said.

'In general, the elections were very, very peaceful and the turnout is very, very good,' he told reporters in Manila as election officers began counting the votes cast.

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. The area is one of the poorest in the country.

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.

Jose Tolentino, COMELEC executive director, attributed the high turnout to voters' curiosity to use the automated electronic machines.

'I think the people there were excited to use the new system so they went out to vote,' he said. 'Some of the machines malfunctioned but these were immediately replaced and voting continued without many glitches.'