By Nitz Arancon, Correspondent THE TOP brass of Police’s Camp Vicente Alagar and the Army’s Camp Edilberto Evangelista, here, have declared the May 9 synchronized national and local elections in northern Mindanao as “generally peaceful.” In a press briefing yesterday noon, Police Regional Director Chief Supt. Jose Gentiles declared there was zero incidence of electionelated violence from the election day to the canvassing of votes. This despite the declaration of the Commission on Elections of some towns in Lanao del Norte as election hotspots. Gentiles added that starting today, police personnel under his command have been ordered to go back to their “normal” assignments. For his part, the Army’s  4th Infantry Division Brig. General Paul Atal concurred with Gentiles. “By (and) large the conduct of the national and local election(s), within the  division of area of responsibility in region 10 and region 13, are both more peaceful compared to (the) 2010 election,” said Atal. Atal said their database on past elections would confirm his observation. In the 2010 elections, there were 38 incidents of electionelated violence. However, the recently concluded May 9 elections listed only 19 election related incidents from the two regions he mentioned. Atal said the stark decline of electionelated violence in the two regions can be attributed to the massive deployment of security forces, especially in Comelec declared election hotspots.