Scene on the street

Lines of voters stream in and out of a polling station in Manila

By CNN's Maria Ressa

(CNN) -- Hundreds of people milled around the polling station set up in the Aurora Quezon Elementary School in central Manila on Monday.

Passers-by handed out sample ballot sheets that had the names of their candidates written on it. The move is illegal but still they were hoping that voters would take it inside their booths and just copy it.

Every voter is expected to remember and write an average of 30 names on each ballot.

Some voters walked around dazed, looking for their names on voter registration sheets. Every now and then, you'd hear someone cry out.

One man who couldn't find his name on the voters' list told CNN, "I checked different precincts. I saw so many names repeated. I saw people who had died on the list."

When asked what he would do about it, he replied, "It's not up to me to do something about it. THEY should do something about this."

Several hours before the more than 200,000 polling stations opened, at least five more people were killed in the southern Philippines -- bringing the death toll in these elections to around 70 people.

This is a far bloodier ballot than earlier years. In 1998, 38 people were killed in the run-up to the election. In 1995 it was 42.

The hallmarks

Violence, vote fraud, intimidation, and vote-buying have long been hallmarks of Philippine elections.

Although the government has said it will try to keep these elections free and fair, it's a challenge to turn it into reality.

And it's a daunting task for the Commission on Elections.

More than 36 million registered voters (about 45% of the Philippines' 77 million people) will choose more than 17,600 officials, including more than half the Senate and all the House of Representatives.

Adding to the logistical challenge is the volatile political atmosphere in the Philippines.

In January, former president Joseph Estrada was ousted by Vice President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Arroyo rode to power on the crest of mass protests dubbed "People Power 2."

The protests were triggered by the failure of an impeachment trial accusing Estrada of stealing millions of dollars in payoffs and kickbacks.

Although the Supreme Court has upheld the legal basis of Arroyo's government three times since then, these mid-term elections will be the first electoral process undertaken during her administration.

Worst violence in 15 years

Events over the past few weeks have done little to calm the South East Asian country.

On April 25, Estrada was arrested and jailed on a non-bailable corruption charge.

His supporters demonstrated for six days before tens of thousands marched to the Presidential Palace, in the worst violence seen in this capital in 15 years.

In a bid to calm the country, Arroyo declared a state of rebellion that gave police the power to detain people without warrants, and then ordered 11 opposition leaders be arrested, including four who were running for senator.

Proxy battle

Although Estrada and Arroyo are not running in these elections, they are backing thousands of candidates who are. Developments over the past four months have turned this into a political battle between the two.

Opinion polls conducted before election day predicted Arroyo's candidates should get a majority of the seats in the Senate, the crucial race for this administration. On Friday, markets reacted positively to that news. Expect that to change to negative sentiment if her candidates do not win.

But most at stake is the political legitimacy of Arroyo's government. Does she have the support of the people? And exactly how much support does Estrada still have?

If Estrada's candidates win in the Senate and House of Representatives, Arroyo will be forced to work with a hostile Congress -- making it almost impossible for her to push any agenda.

Arroyo denies these elections are a referendum on her government. She tells CNN, "No, I don't think so because I got my mandate affirmed three times by the Supreme Court."

But now the people will speak. The question is will violence, vote fraud, intimidation and vote-buying be kept at low enough levels to get an accurate count?

Filipinos seem to think so. As one man said after he cast his vote, "Elections are fun. I'm not that smart, but I know what I want."

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