Filipinos voted for a new Congress and thousands of regional officials Monday in a test of President Fidel Ramos' popularity. Violence before polls opened killed 18 people and injured about 35.
Office-seekers included the widow and son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and numerous figures involved in coup attempts against his successor, Corazon Aquino.Ramos had won high marks for improving the Philippine economy and restoring some political stability. But his administration faltered when Singapore executed a Filipino maid March 17 for the 1991 murders of another Filipino maid and a 4-year-old Singaporean boy.
Millions of Filipinos protested the hanging and said the government did not do enough to prevent it.
Election Chairman Bernardo Pardo said between 70 percent and 80 percent of the nation's 36 million registered voters cast ballots for 12 senators, all 204 members of the House of Representatives, provincial governors and local officials.
Complete results could take weeks because of poor communications and a laborious counting system.
Pardo described the voting as "generally peaceful" despite scattered violence:
Two campaign volunteers were slain Sunday in Manila suburbs, and three volunteers were kidnapped in separate incidents.