GMA, FPJ run tight race in quick counts - Poe 155K. Whore Arroyo 150K

PRESIDENT Arroyo and the actor Fernando Poe Jr. were front-runners and running neck and neck as of 9 p.m. on Monday in the initial unofficial quick counts conducted by the broadcast networks ABS-CBN and GMA 7-AMA.


Poe of the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) posted 155,880 votes, followed closely by Mrs. Arroyo with 150,386 votes in the ABS-CBN count.


Poe also had a slight edge in the GMA-AMA unofficial tally with 27,144 votes against Mrs. Arroyo’s 25,226 votes. 


In the ABS-CBN tally, the independent presidential candidate Panfilo “Ping” Lacson came in third place with 65,441, followed by the evangelist Brother Eddie Villanueva of the Bangon Pilipinas Movement and Alyansa ng Pag-asa’s Raul Roco with  34,349 and  31,260.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/may/11/yehey/top_stories/20040511top1.html

May the Force be with Poe!

Voting proceeded in over 300,000 polling precincts across the country yesterday but the process was marred by widespread complaints of missing names, incomplete voters’ lists and late delivery of election materials.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos said yesterday’s electoral exercise went "fairly well" despite reports of disenfranchisement that flooded in from many polling precincts nationwide.

"It is going fairly well," Abalos told a news conference on the progress of the electoral exercise after spending Sunday night in a hospital for fatigue and suspected ulcers.

Abalos admitted that "minor problems" plagued the conduct of yesterday’s polls including complaints of missing names of voters, missing precincts and ballot boxes, misprinting of ballots and even omission of spaces for the positions of governor and vice governor in provincial ballots.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/index.htm

REUTERS , MANILA
Tuesday, May 11, 2004,Page 1

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo looked likely to defeat movie star Fernando Poe, Jr in national elections yesterday, one exit poll showed, after millions of Filipinos voted amid scattered violence.

After polls closed at 3pm, voter interviews by independent radio network dzRH showed Arroyo leading Poe, the strongest of her four rivals, by 6 to 8 percentage points -- roughly in line with surveys just before the election.

The winner will lead this largely Roman Catholic nation of 82 million people for the next six years, facing challenges from corruption and insurgencies to dire poverty, huge debts and a weak economy.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2004/05/11/2003154972

Thanks