In a first for the Philippines—a country with intermittent electricity supply and a history of electoral fraud—a computerized system is being used instead of the manual count used in most countries. Despite the fact that 11th-hour glitches meant the recall and re-programming of 76,000 flash cards used to scan votes in the optical scan machines, the electoral oversight body (Comelec) remained confident that the elections will go through.
Whether the equipment will be ready and distributed across the whole archipelago in time remains to be seen. However, Comelec is resisting calls from candidates and media to conduct a manual count in parallel and as a backup to the computerized alternative.
The "saint" in question is Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, son of former President and democracy icon Cory, who died in August 2009. A poll published Friday put Mr. Aquino at 41 percent, over double that of the second-place candidate. Aquino has capitalized on the family lineage—an aura of martyrdom, heroism and clean hands that dates back to the 1986 People's Power Revolution—in a country listed by Transparency International as more graft-prone than Pakistan or Liberia.
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