Vote Held on Expanding Muslim Autonomy Zone

Citizens in the southern Philippines went to the polls to vote on whether to expand a Muslim autonomous area that the central government hopes could heal decades of bloody rebellion.

Thousands of troops were on alert against possible attacks by Muslim guerrillas, but there were no reports of violence, officials said.

Full results are not expected for a week, but early returns suggested the measure’s defeat. A watchdog group said turnout was low.

Voters were asked if they wanted to be included in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao that Manila set up in the mid-1990s to appease demands by Muslim militants for a separate state in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country.