Voter turnout still high despite fraud, violence.

Byline: Adriel M. Paglinawan

VOTER TURNOUT in the Philippines, despite allegations of widespread fraud during elections, has remained one of the highest among established democracies worldwide, highlighted in major transitions in the last 12 presidential elections, data from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) show.

Philippine voter turnout is above 69%, a "very high" rate, said political analysts, compared with the turnout in, say, the United States.

Voter turnout, computed as the total number of votes cast divided by the number of registered voters, has swung between 69.7% and 89.6% from 1946 to 2004, according to NSCB data.

In contrast, the US average is 45.5% in nearly three decades, according to data from the United States Elections Project, an information Web site run by Michael McDonald, a professor at George Mason University.

"One …