Violence marred midterm elections in the southern Philippines on Monday, with observers reporting a surge in killings and voter intimidation in Muslim Mindanao – an area long troubled by armed groups, clan rivalries and former separatist rebels.
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The vote – which saw 68.6 million Filipinos elect senators, representatives and local officials – was particularly volatile across the Bangsamoro autonomous region, governed largely by former rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), where tensions have been rising in the lead-up to polling day.
Among the dead were a candidate for municipal councillor and his brother, gunned down at close range on their way to vote in Bayang town, Lanao del Sur. The victims, 38-year-old Afganie Balt Taha and 35-year-old Walid Balt Taha, were killed by unknown assailants, according to local police chief Captain Edmundo Nabor.
At a polling centre located on the border of Buadiposo and Ramain towns in Lanao del Sur, voters scrambled for cover shortly before noon as elite soldiers and police fired warning shots to disperse supporters of two politicians engaged in a heated dispute over alleged cheating.
Riots were also reported at voting centres in Sagonsongan village of Marawi City, and the nearby town of Saguiaran, after supporters attempted to delay the voting and a poll watcher was found in possession of a master list of voters – a practice prohibited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
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