Partial and unofficial quick counting of votes as of early Tuesday showed that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and opposition presidential candidate and former movie star Fernando Poe Jr. are locked in a close contest.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo shows the voting mark on her index finger after casting her vote in her hometown Lubao, Pampanga province in the northern Philippines, May 10, 2004. The Philippine national election opened on Monday. More than 43 million eligible voters would choose a new president, vice-president, 12 of the total 24 senators, all the representatives of the house and more than 17,000 local posts. The results will come out after at least two weeks.

The country's top two networks, ABS-CBN and GMA Channel 7, announced contrasting results, which, however, both showed that the two candidates lead the presidential election neck and neck.

The latest unofficial count from the ABS-CBN television showed that Arroyo began to rank the first in the presidential candidate list.

On the other hand, the GMA Channel 7, which has prominent information technology school AMA as their quick count partner, said that Poe still led the president until early Tuesday.

In the vice presidential race, Poe's running mate Loren Legarda was credited with 173,380 votes against Arroyo's partner Noli de Castro, who is with total of 171,911 votes, the ABS-CBN said.

The National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), the only authorized nongovernmental organization to count the vote, released its quick count result by 12:10 a.m. Tuesday that Arroyo is leading the election.

Guillermo Luz, Namfrel secretary general, said Namfrel personnel would be working 24 hours, using a system of alerts by text, e-mail and facsimile that will enable it to complete the tabulation in one week.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) assured Monday that the ultimate result of the national elections would be released within15 to 25 days while results for local posts will be known after one week.

Commissioner Resurrection Borra said at a news conference that the winners will be officially known once the tabulation results from the provinces are transmitted.

Borra said that he is confident that the final canvassing of votes will start on May 15 as scheduled. The final canvassing will be done at the Philippine International Convention Center in the Cultural Center of the Philippines compound in Manila.

The Comelec official said today's election was more peaceful compared to the 1998 presidential elections and 2001 senatorial elections.

"In the meantime, I hope the people will accept the results of the elections and advance towards genuine and sustainable improvement," he added.

Source: Xinhua