Philippines says Monday's vote will be successful despite computer glitch and violence

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Despite scattered violence and a scramble to fix a computer glitch, officials said Sunday that the Philippines' first automated presidential and local elections this week will be a successful test of its fragile democracy.

Opposition Sen. Benigno Aquino III, the son of revered pro-democracy icons, has topped pre-elections surveys in the nine-way race for the presidency. His rise reflects the public's longing to fill a moral vacuum in a country exasperated by decades of corruption, poverty and violence.

Aquino's closest rivals include ousted President Joseph Estrada and Sen. Manuel Villar, the country's wealthiest politician. A blistering 90-day campaign ended Saturday, with most candidates promising to steer one of Southeast Asia's economic laggards back to the path to stability.

On the eve of Monday's vote, thousands of workers on board military and private aircraft — and some on foot — delivered optical counting machines to 96 percent of about 76,300 precints across Southeast Asia's archipelago, Elections Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said.

Reconfigured memory cards for the machines have been delivered to regional hubs after the defect prompted a massive recall last week, according to Smartmatic, the consortium that supplied the machines.

Late delivery and final testing may delay vote counting in some far-flung areas, the elections commission said. In the worst scenario, more than 3 million Filipinos will be able to vote but their ballots won't be counted until the new cards arrive in those areas, the poll body said.

The last-minute problem sparked calls for the polls' postponement and fueled fears of vote-rigging and violence that have long sullied Philippine elections.

"The best way to disprove all the critics who say that this cannot be done is just to do it," Larrazabal told The Associated Press in an interview.

"Some machines won't work but they can be replaced and some voters may not go out to vote," Larrazabal said, adding that majority of Filipinos will cast their vote and demonstrate that "they have a stake in this democracy."

"Too many people want the elections to succeed. Too many people want change," he said.

About 50 million Filipinos will vote to elect a new president, vice president and officials to fill nearly 18,000 national and local posts.

Presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said he was confident the automated elections will be credible, adding its success will bolster the country's democracy.

"This administration will put all of its resources behind a successful transition of power and preserving the stability and continuity of our republican institutions," Oliver said in a statement.

Violence threatened to derail voting in some areas. More than 2,500 people have been arrested for violating a ban on firearms in public areas and police reported dozens of election-related killings.

Communist New People's Army rebels also have threatened to attack government troops tasked to deliver the counting machines.

Larrazabal said the difficulty of tampering with the automated elections may have prompted some people to resort to violence and intimidation to bolster their electoral chances.