Comelec orders recount of Pasig mayoral vote

All is not lost for Robert "Dudut" Jaworski Jr after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday finally acted on his electoral protest and ordered a ballot recount for the Pasig City mayoral race. The Comelec's decision for a recount stemmed from an electoral protest lodged by Jaworski against elected Mayor Robert "Bobby" Eusebio immediately after the latter's proclamation after the May 2007 midterm elections. Radio dzBB quoted Jaworski's lawyer, Leila de Lima, as saying that the inventory of ballot boxes that allegedly contained tampered election documents is expected to be completed within the day. She added that the Comelec will start recounting ballots from Pasig City's 1,317 precincts on Monday next week at the poll body’s head office in Intramuros, Manila. The result of the recount is expected to be released on January next year, the report added. The Comelec in May proclaimed Eusebio the winner after he mustered 116,463 votes, almost 10,000 more votes than his closest rival, Jaworski. Eusebio replaced his father Vicente as mayor of Pasig City. Jaworski, a former congressman, is the son of legendary basketball star Robert Jaworski. The tight mayoral race in Pasig City had been marred with election-related controversies, including reports of attempts to replace authentic election returns with fake ones. - GMANews.TV