Dozens of people have been killed in Philippine local elections, though polling day on Monday passed off relatively peacefully.

Among at least 66 dead were 16 candidates for the hundreds of thousands of local government positions.

Flooding as well as fighting disrupted the polls

But President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo used a radio address after the polls closed to thank her countrymen for "our generally peaceful elections".

Floods across the north of the country also affected voting, with polling in more than 300 villages having to be postponed.

Mrs Arroyo said the authorities were "satisfied" with the outcome of the poll and the it was conducted.

"I hope the postponed balloting in some areas would be held peacefully as well," she said on Tuesday, the day after the main vote ended.

Despite the bloodshed, the death toll was reported to be lower than during previous elections.

Gun battle

The latest apparent victim was a local council candidate who was found beheaded in the southern province of South Cotabato on Sunday night.

The military said that they were engaged in a gun battle on Sunday with armed men hired by a local politician in southern Lanao del Sur province.

More than 671,000 positions are to be filled in nearly 42,000 communities across the Philippines archipelago.

Local councils often serve as a powerful means of mobilising support in more significant elections for national and municipal posts.

The next elections in the Philippines will take place in May 2004, when the country will choose a new president and vice-president, half the members of the Senate, the entire membership of the House of Representatives, and provincial, municipal and city officials.