Arroyo wins Philippine presidential race, shows canvassing results

Philippine incumbent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo won the May 10 presidential elections, shows the congressional canvassing which was finished Sunday night.

However, it will still take Congress several days to officially announce the winners of last month's presidential and vice presidential polls.

Out of the total 176 certificates of canvass, Arroyo received 12,905,808 votes as against 11,782,232 votes for her closest rival,opposition presidential bet and movie star Fernando Poe Jr..

In the vice presidential race, Arroyo's running mate Senator Noli de Castro had 15,100,431 votes as against 14,218,709 votes for his main challenger, Poe's running mate Senator Loren Legarda.

A joint committee created by Congress wrapped up its tedious canvassing of votes for presidential and vice-presidential candidates, paving the way for Arroyo to be declared the country'snext president later this week.

Senate President Franklin Drilon and House of Representatives Speaker Jose de Venecia led the symbolic reading of the last certificate of canvass as the audience at the House gallery applauded the 22-men joint canvassing panel.

Senator Francis Pangilinan, co-chairman of the joint committee,said earlier that the timetable included a two-day preparation of the joint committee report on Monday and Tuesday, a plenary debateon Wednesday and Thursday, and a proclamation on Friday, June 25.

Congress has the sole power to proclaim the winners of the presidential and vice presidential elections, and the country could plunge into a constitutional crisis if no president was proclaimed by June 30, when Arroyo's term ends.

Source: Xinhua