Not necessarily winner by majority votes.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Belinda Olivares-Cunanan

AS I had noted earlier, the US presidential election looks so much like our local elections, with charges of "fraud" and intimidation flying around. The latest charge is that there are thousands of "missing ballots" in pivotal Florida. Perhaps, this "similarity" is one reason for the heightened interest among Filipinos in the US election. Reports say Filipino-Americans are split between George W. Bush and John Kerry but, seemingly, so are the Pinoys here.

At the recent celebration of former Sen. Heherson Alvarez's birthday, the guests decided that those favoring the losing US candidate would treat those supporting the eventual winner. The guests then took a poll; the minority for Kerry was led by Heherson and Cecile Alvarez, who had worked with him on peace issues during their exile years in the United States; while the pro-Bush majority was led by business executive Fernando Pe[currency]a. Classified as "in between" was Francis Manglapus, who said he's for Kerry but thinks Bush will win. We all agreed that if Kerry wins, his supporters will be entitled to a big steak dinner as they're quite few, and that if Bush wins, his supporters will only get a Jollibee treat since they are quite a number.

In a recent conversation with my Tokyo-based daughter Christine and her husband, Keiichi Miki, both rabid Kerry supporters, they said they couldn't understand why so many Pinoys are for Bush (the Japanese are overwhelmingly pro-Kerry, except for PM Junichiro Koizumi). They suspect it's because he came over last year for a lightning visit. I agreed-Bush is a known factor to Pinoys.

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But despite the interest in the US election, many here still don't understand how a US presidential candidate can win the "popular vote" and still lose the election. This was what happened to former Vice President Al Gore in 2000, when Bush was declared winner after he clinched the 25 Florida electoral college votes, following the Supreme Court decision to stop the recount there. It was therefore helpful that President Macapagal-Arroyo's election lawyer, Romulo Makalintal, sent me an article explaining the "unique features" of the US presidential election.