U.S. Observers Conclude Aquino Won Disputed Vote

A team of official U.S. observers to the Philippine election asserted in their final report Wednesday that President Corazon Aquino actually won the disputed Feb. 7 poll.

After monitoring the election, conducting extensive interviews and reviewing statistical data, the delegation headed by Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it concluded that the opposition ticket of Aquino and her running mate Salvador Laurel “won a majority of the votes honestly cast.”

The report, released to the public at the same time it was sent to the White House, detailed in writing what Lugar and other U.S. observers began saying shortly after the polls closed--that there had been widespread fraud.

Although anticlimactic, the report has special relevance as an impartial testimony to Aquino’s legitimate electoral mandate, the delegation said.

Supporters of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos have contended that he was the real victor in the election and that Aquino holds the office illegitimately.

Marcos, who had ruled for 20 years, called the special election to answer charges that he was unpopular. Aquino, widow of assassinated opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., was drafted to run against him.

Marcos claimed victory in the election, but there were widespread reports of fraud and large elements of Philippine society turned against him. Finally, after segments of the military revolted and joined Aquino’s forces, Marcos fled at the end of February and ended up in Hawaii.

After the polls closed, Marcos said he had polled more votes and cited returns compiled by the governmental Commission on Elections. He discounted other figures provided by an independent poll-watching group, the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), which showed Aquino ahead.

The Philippine National Assembly, controlled by Marcos, completed its official canvass on Feb. 15 and certified Marcos as the winner.

But the U.S. delegation said the assembly’s proclamation “must be considered questionable and not a reflection of the voting will of the majority of the Filipino people.”

Instead the observers found that results compiled by NAMFREL, the independent poll watchers, were the only reliable source of election data.