A Philippine election watchdog said on Saturday its unofficial count showed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had won a fresh term by narrowly beating film star Fernando Poe Jr with 39 percent of the votes to his 37 percent.
The official tally from a May 10 general election will not confirm the winner of the presidential race until at least mid-June, but counts by the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) have proved accurate in the past.
The NAMFREL "quick count" of 79.21 percent of the ballots which took four weeks was largely redundant after a senior election official leaked results on May 24 showing Arroyo had defeated Poe by about three percentage points.
The watchdog said it would deliver its final report on the election on June 30, the day the new government must be sworn in.
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