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- THE WEEK, Page 20WORLDTo Two . . . and Counting
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- So far we know who will not be the next President of the
- Philippines
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- After five days of vote counting, all that was clear in last
- week's Philippine presidential election was which of the seven
- candidates had lost. They included House Speaker Ramon Mitra and
- Vice President Salvador Laurel, nominees of the country's two
- largest parties. Imelda Marcos, the former President's widow,
- was sixth, and Eduardo Cojuangco, a longtime Marcos colleague,
- was third.
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- The front runners at week's end, with less than a quarter
- of the vote tabulated, were former Defense Minister Fidel Ramos
- and reform candidate Miriam Defensor Santiago. Ramos, who is
- President Corazon Aquino's choice to succeed her, had edged
- slightly ahead of Santiago, who promptly charged that
- "wholesale election fraud" was taking place.
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- That seemed entirely possible. A group of international
- election observers reported that some poll officials were too
- drunk to keep track of voters, ballot boxes were being opened
- without authorization, and threats and bribery were widespread.
- The glacial vote count continues this week. The outgoing
- Congress, which is tabulating the votes for President and Vice
- President, will eventually announce the winners.
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