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MANILA (AFP) - Special elections opened in the southern Philippines on Saturday amid tight security to avert possible violence, which forced the suspension of polls earlier this month.

The congressional and local elections, covering 13 towns in the Muslim-majority regions in Lanao del Sur province, take the place of polls that were supposed to be held earlier this month.

Elections were held throughout the Philippines on May 14 to elect 12 senators and hundreds of congressmen, governors and town mayors but polls were suspended in the 13 towns in Lanao del Sur in the southern island of Mindanao on that day.

This was due to threats of violence, which led to election officials refusing to serve there.

Armed gangs belonging to political warlords and Muslim extremist groups all operate in the Lanao region, often using force to influence elections.

Just after the polls opened Saturday, local radio stations reported that two people had been wounded in a shooting incident in the Lanao town of Pantar but it was not immediately clear if this was related to the polls.

To prevent another suspension of elections, thousands of special troops have been deployed to the Lanao region to guard the vote.

It is estimated that 70,000 to 100,000 votes could be cast in the elections, possibly influencing the efforts of President Gloria Arroyo's ruling coalition to claim a majority in both houses of Congress.

Arroyo allies say they have captured 183 seats in the 275-seat House of Representatives, with vote counting still unfinished.

But the opposition is ahead in the race for 12 of the 24 seats at stake in the Senate, where representatives are elected nationwide.

The anti-Arroyo faction needs to win eight of the 12 seats to claim an outright majority, giving the senators the power to block proposed legislation introduced by the president.

The opposition fears the special ballot in Mindanao, which has a reputation for fraud-tainted polls, could give Arroyo allies the potential to claw back a win.

Across the Philippines, the three-month election campaign claimed more than 130 lives.