Mid-term Elections in Basilan

Yakan Muslims fill out their ballots at a polling precinct in Parangbasak, Basilan on May 14, 2007. Filipinos voted today for senators, congressman, provincial governors, and city mayors throughout the country. Wahab Akbar, the charismatic governor of Basilan who once fought against the government with the Moro National Liberation Front and allegedly maintained ties with Abu Sayyaf extremists, hopes to become one of two congressman who will represent the island province in Manila. Violence disrupted elections throughout the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, which includes Basilan and four other provinces in the southern Philippines. Armed men shot at voters inside a voting precinct near the town of Tuburan, Basilan while supporters of rival political parties in central Mindanao threw grenades and detonated small bombs in the provinces of Sharif Kabunsuan and Maguindanao. In several Lanao del Sur towns, election volunteers refused to open polling centers due to widespread insecurity.