Son rides the Aquino name to poll position

MANILA - Scattered violence and glitches with new vote-counting machines failed to dissuade millions of Filipinos from voting in yesterday's elections, seeking a clean start after a decade of corruption-tainted politics.

Senator Benigno Aquino III - whose father was assassinated while opposing a dictatorship and whose late mother led the "people power" revolt that restored freedoms - commanded a large lead in the last pre-election polls.

But even Aquino was unable to vote immediately because a counting machine broke down in his hometown of Tarlac, north of Manila. The Elections Commission extended voting for an hour to make up for delays.

For the first time, optical scanning machines were counting votes in 76,000 precincts. A software glitch discovered a week ago nearly derailed the vote, but was fixed at the last minute.

In the past, manual counts delayed results for weeks and were open to fraud. About 50 million registered voters in the country of 90 million will elect politicians for posts from the presidency to municipal councils.

Election commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said about 300 out of 76,000 machines had problems but that most had already been replaced.

Even with the more than 30 election-related deaths in the past three months, including three on Sunday, violence appeared to be down: 130 deaths preceded the 2007 vote.

The next leader will face multiple insurgencies. Muslim and communist rebels and al Qaeda - linked militants have long staged terrorist attacks and hostage raids from jungle hideouts in the south.

He also faces entrenched corruption: outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been accused of vote-rigging in 2004 and implicated in several scandals. Calls for her prosecution have been a major campaign issue.

Despite lacking the experience of his two main rivals, Aquino rode on a family name that has revived poignant memories of the 1986 "people power" revolt his late mother led to oust dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

His rivals carry the taint of scandal. The ratings of real estate tycoon Manny Villar, who was neck-and-neck with Aquino in early surveys, plunged after rivals accused him of using his position to enrich himself.

Ousted President Joseph Estrada, who largely draws support from the poor, has overtaken Villar as No 2. The former action movie star was removed from office in 2001 and convicted of corruption. He was later pardoned.

- AP