Four losing candidates in Lanao del Sur have asked the Commission on Elections to conduct a special election in the province on grounds there was massive cheating and vote-buying in the May 13 midterm polls.
Meanwhile, eight people were killed and 14 were injured in 51 incidents of violence after the May 13 elections, the Philippine National Police said Thursday.
PNP spokesman Bernard Banac said most of the victims were barangay officials and some were Sangguniang Kabataan officials.
As of Thursday, Banac said, 21 of the 51 cases had been solved while 22 were still under investigation.
The losing candidates led by Guiling “Gene” Mamondiong, Hatta Dimaporo, Agakhan “Binladen” Sharief and Sultan Bob Datimbang filed a petition with the Comelec seeking to nullify the election results in Lanao del Sur and Marawi City.
Named as respondent was Mamintal Adiong Jr. who was proclaimed the winning candidate.
In a 12-page petition, Mamondiong, a PDP Laban candidate for governor in Lanao del Sur and former TESDA director general; Hatta Dimaporo, former vice mayor; Agakan “Binladen” Sharief and Sultan Bob Datimbang claimed that the elections in the province were marred by violence, vote-buying and acts of “massive fraud” such as the pre-shading of ballots and the substitution of voters.
They also cited a viral video showing some people apparently pre-shading the ballots without the knowledge of the voters.
The petitioners said their complaints were supported by affidavits executed by a number of witnesses.
The four defeated candidates insisted that a special elections was necessary to protect the will of the electorate “from being denigrated by unscrupulous candidates who are armed with all the resources under the sun to do so if only to perpetuate themselves in power.”
They also asked the Comelec to grant their petition to void the proclamation of the winning candidates and for the declaration of a failure of elections in the province.
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