Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's ruling coalition held on to its lead in senatorial races on Saturday amid warnings from a private poll body against cheating in the vote count.
With votes from more than half of the more than 200,000 precincts nationwide tabulated in an unofficial count, Arroyo's People Power Coalition was leading eight of 13 senatorial contests while former president Joseph Estrada's Power of the Masses party was ahead in four.
An independent, who has so far garnered the highest number of votes, was expected to get the 13th slot.
The elections are seen as a test of popular support for Arroyo, who was catapulted to the presidency by a military-backed popular uprising in January which ended Estrada's 31-month rule.
The latest standing was based on a count made by the private National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) group, as of 0309 GMT. It said it had so far tabulated returns from 54.65 percent of all the precincts.
Arroyo's coalition needs to win nine of the contested seats to gain a solid majority in the 24-seat Senate.
But NAMFREL said it was concerned about apparent cheating in some areas through a method known as "dagdag-bawas" (add-minus), which involves padding up the votes of a favored candidate by slashing the votes credited to his rival.
"For those who transfer and shave votes, we hope that you stop that. It is not good for our electoral process and democracy," NAMFREL national chairman Jose Concepcion told reporters.
Officials from both the ruling coalition and from the opposition have accused each other of resorting to the trick.
Concepcion told reporters NAMFREL had gathered documents to show such a trick was allegedly used in one town in Iloilo province in the central Philippines.
He said they were checking reports similar fraud had occurred in Samar province, also in the central Philippines.
The counting of votes in the Philippines, where elections have been historically marred by fraud, is done manually.
Estrada, under detention since April 25, is undergoing medical tests in a military hospital while awaiting trial on a charge of economic plunder, which is punishable by life in jail or death. He has denied any wrongdoing -- MANILA (Reuters)
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