Four supporters of a mayoral candidate died in a shootout in the southern Philippines on Saturday while ballot boxes were being transported, bring to 147 the death toll of violent incidents related to last Monday's general elections, the military said.

The four followers of reelectionist mayor Edwin Bermudez of Columbio town, Sultan Kudarat province, were killed while ballot boxes were being transported from Columbio to the provincial capital of Isulan, Brigadier General Agustin Demaala said.

Demaala said it was not known who fired shots that killed the four, but Bermudez said the assailants were preventing the transfer of ballot boxes, according to a Philippine Daily Inquirer online news report.

The transfer of ballot boxes came after Columbio election officer has remained missing since Tuesday, the report said.

Bermudez reportedly claimed he was well ahead his rival Thong Paglas in tallies by poll watchdog the National Citizen's Movement for Free Elections and the official Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Late Friday, unidentified men fired two M-79 rifle grenades near the house of Bermudez, but no one was hurt in the explosions, Demaala said.

The death toll since the election period began on Dec. 15, 2003,has made this year's elections the bloodiest since the 1986 snap presidential polls when more than 150 people were killed.

Elections in the Southeast Asian nation are often marred by violence, particularly at local levels where some politicians maintain gangs of armed followers who threaten and intimidate political rivals and their supporters.

Filipino voters went to the polls last Monday to elect a new president, a vice-president, 12 out of the 24 senators, as many as265 members of the House of Representatives and over 17,000 local elective positions from provincial governor to town councilor.

About 81.5 percent of the country's some 43 million registered voters voted in the country's general elections independent pollster Social Weather Stations said Friday, based on its exit poll on the election day.

The exit poll also predicted that incumbent president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is seeking a full six-year term, would win 41 percent of the vote compared with 32 percent for her main challenger, opposition presidential candidate and movie star Fernando Poe Jr.

The Comelec convened as the National Board of Canvassers Saturday for the final and official canvassing of votes for senatorial candidates and party-list groups seeking representation in the House, and the poll body vowed to finish the job within 15 days.

The two chambers of the Congress will convene in a joint session as the National Canvassing Board on May 24 to start canvassing votes for presidential and vice-presidential candidates and are expected to proclaim the country's new president and vice president in early June.

The official final results of the elections will not come out early because of manual tallying and canvassing of the ballots.

Source: Xinhua