Erap, Binay take the lead on 3rd day of canvassing

Former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada and his running mate Makati mayor Jejomar Binay took the lead in the third day of official canvassing of votes for president and vice-president in the recently concluded May 10 automated elections. Monday’s count, which was delayed by at least three hours, included votes from Northern Luzon provinces. As of 10:02 p.m. Monday, the official canvassing showed Estrada with 234, 474 votes followed closely by Senator Manuel Villar with 217, 450. Sen. Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III, who leads by more than five million votes in the unofficial tally of election returns from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), ranked third with 205, 967 votes.

Based on partial NBOC canvassing as of 10:02 p.m., May 31, with 140 certificates of canvass (CoCs).

In the vice presidential race, Binay got 307, 537 votes followed by Senator Loren Legarda with 232, 986 and Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas with 195, 378.

Based on partial NBOC canvassing as of 10:02 p.m., May 31, with 140 certificates of canvass (CoCs).

The lead of Estrada and Binay came from La Union where the former president received a whopping 126,602 votes while the Makati mayor got 155,160. Villar got 87,279 votes from the province while Aquino received 86, 939. The National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), composed of 18 lawmakers, has tallied a total of 140 certificates of canvass. The latest COCs tallied came from La Union, Ilocos Norte, Hong Kong and Singapore. The canvassing of votes from Ilocos Sur was deferred because the results were not electronically transmitted to the NBOC. The COCs from Baguio and Siquijor were also set aside because of the discrepancy in the number of registered voters and the number of nullified votes.
No one could explain the discrepancies because the officials from Comelec officials technology provider Smartmatic had left the venue during the canvassing. “They should be here to explain particular questions. We need Comelec and Smartmatic for a rational explanation into this," Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said. The NBOC resumed its canvassing Monday evening after grilling Smartmatic officials for three hours regarding the operation of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in the automated elections. - KBK, GMANews.TV