Manila tense after poll shock

Press, 10 April 1978, Page 8

Manila tense after poll shock

NZPA-Reuter Manila Security forces went on full alert in Manila yester:'day while the Philippine i Government and the Opposi*;tion studied the potentially- ; serious implications of Frij day’s elections, in which President Ferdinand Marcos has claimed overwhelming, but not total, victory. • Unofficial projections gave his New Society movement all the 21 seats at stake in the capital, where it faced a hard battle against the Opposition People's Power group. It has ..been . officially iadmitted that the Opposition, led by a detained for!mer senator. Mr Benigno ( Aquino, could have polled as much as 40 per cent of the ! vote in the first, national I ■ elections since the 1972; imartial-law clampdown. I The President has claimed! !90 per cent support for his; martial-law rule in the past,i and the smaller vote of I around 60 per cent is sure] to be viewed as a blow to! the Government. Also adding to the tension; are vociferous Opposition! | complaints of vote-rigging, j The President has ordered; ! the security forces to be on I ! full alert and take pre-* iemptive action to prevent! ; disorder. i There have been no dis-i jturbances since noisy Op-i ; position demonstrations on! ;the eve of the poll, but theI Government is believed to! !be keeping a close watch as! Iword spread of a planned Opposition protest prayer! I rally backed by radical ele-j ments of the powerful ;Roman Catholic Church. ' The elections were for an! interim National Assembly! which the President has said could pave the way for a,

. full return to democracy in r the country. i Mr Marcos's New Society ■lmovement, the only party to • I contest the elections nation.l wide, is assured of a big > | over-all majority in the ;j Assembly. But Opposition ! groups are expected to win [some seats at stake in the provinces. The Commission of Eleci j tions, more than 40 hours after polling ended, has released formal results from 'I only 83 of the 11,000 preIcincts in the capital. It said > it had been delayed because lof a bomb threat to its counting centre. The Commission’s chairi man, Mr Leonardo Perez, J said it had received on Satjurday an anonymous bomb threat which had proved a hoax. But it had held up the count and created an atmosphere of fear. Commission I employees had only just returned to work. He also claimed tabulating troubles because of the com j plicated system of block and individual voting. His statement, together | with constant warnings over Government television that I subversives had infiltrated (the Opposition to cause trouble, added to tension built up by claims of cheating and ballot stuffing.