MANILA - The Commission on Elections on Thursday said there is no stopping elections in Maguindanao next year despite Monday's massacre that claimed the lives of 57 people in Ampatuan town.

Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal earlier said a scheduled site survey in several Maguindanao towns did not push through after a team from Smartmatic-TIM expressed fears for their safety. He said the site survey was meant to establish if electronic transmission of election results was possible for the automation of next year's election.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, however, said the site survey will still push through. He said any escalation of violence in the area would mean a delay of the survey for several days or even weeks.

Ramon Casiple, director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, said the biggest challenge for next year's poll is ensuring peace and order in Maguindanao. He said cheating and election-related violence could still continue especially if the powerful Ampatuan family remains in power.

President Gloria Arroyo on Thursday prayed for a peaceful and orderly elections in May 2010 in an address on the 34th anniversary celebration of the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation, Inc., at the Malago Grounds inside Malacañang Park.

''We pray that the process of selecting our leaders will not be marred by violence and strife," she said. 

The celebration coincided with the declaration today of a Day of Prayer and Mourning for the victims of the outrageous crime.

According to the president, the Maguindanao incident should serve to strengthen the government resolve “to end this violence that plagues the political system.”

She added that political violence is “a 'sad legacy'' that the country must wrestle with, but the government has made considerable progress in protecting the citizenry.