INCIDENTS of election-related violence have risen sharply as Monday’s election nears, leading to the deaths of a considerable number of candidates or their key campaign leaders, an election monitoring group said on Thursday.
The Consortium on Electoral Reform, which has launched an anti-election violation initiative called Vote Peace 2010, also said a significant number of the acts of violence are “planned and targeted.” It pointed to the ambuscades, assassinations and bomb attacks that have been carried out since the election period opened on Jan. 10.
Vote Peace has recorded so far 69 incidents of election-related violence, 35 of them from March 25 to end of April alone. A total of 52 people were killed and 33 injured.
“While the number of incidents is relatively lower as compared to the same period in the 2007 elections, what is bothering is the significant number of fatalities (and) there are victims killed in almost every incident,” according to Vote Peace.
Vote Peace said most victims were candidates, their political leaders, workers and supporters, and their security aides. Civilian-victims were mainly caught in the crossfire, strafing or grenade blast, it said.
The poll monitoring group said the killings in Abram and Masbate and grenade firing and bomb attacks in Maguindanao and Zamboanga Sibugay are creating “a climate of fear” in the areas.
Poll violence victims
