Philippine Election

As of 10:00 p.m. Philippine time, Noynoy Aquino leads in the Philippine election as president followed by Joseph Estrada. For VP, leading is Jojomar Binay followed by Mar Roxas.

For more of the news, read below:

Ex-president's son leads in Philippine vote count
From Arwa Damon and Kathy Quiano, CNN

Manila, Philippines (CNN) -- Sen. Benigno Aquino III, the son of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino, held the lead Monday as votes were counted to determine the next president of the Philippines, according to partial and unofficial returns.

Aquino had 35 percent of the vote compared with 27 percent for his nearest rival, former President Joseph Estrada, according to results from PPCRV, a church-based watchdog organization that works in conjunction with the country's electoral commission.

It was not immediately clear how many of the total votes had been counted to yield those partial results, and the figures could change as more ballots are tallied.


Voters cast ballots to choose a president, vice president and about 17,000 other local and legislative positions.

The voting was marred by violence Sunday -- a gunman killed three people and wounded at least five at the house of a mayoral candidate, a military spokeswoman said.

In southern Mindanao, meanwhile, four municipalities declared election failure after poll workers reported harassment and death threats.

The election commission accepted the declarations and said it would re-schedule a special election in Mindanao, an island where a political massacre left 57 people dead in November.

In 2007, 13 municipalities in the same area declared election failure and re-held the elections after a year.

One election monitor, Leila De Lima, emphasized the importance of the vote.

"It's a very crucial litmus test to our democracy, our fragile democracy," said De Lima, chairwoman of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines.

"The administration has been hounded by issues of corruption, human rights violations. People are looking forward to a new administration that will hopefully usher in meaningful changes. So, it's very, very important."