Briefly

THE PHILIPPINES

Deadly violence casts shadow on polling day

Voting in the Philippines took place on Monday to elect the next president and some 18,000 other officials of all levels of government, amid violence that killed six people and injured a dozen others, mainly in the south, Xinhua reported. A total of 37,211 polling centers across the country opened at 6 am local time for over 65.7 million eligible voters and closed at 7 pm. Opinion polls put former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr ahead of his rival Maria Leonor Robredo, the vice-president, by over 30 percentage points in the race, Reuters reported.

SRI LANKA

Prime minister resigns amid demonstrations

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on Monday as violent protests broke out in the capital Colombo between his supporters and anti-government protesters. Officials from the government said the prime minister had handed in his resignation letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday afternoon. Sri Lanka has been plunged into weeks of economic crisis stemming from a foreign exchange shortage which has led to a shortage in essential supplies such as fuel, food and medicines.

Xinhua - Agencies