Filipinos began voting on Monday to nominate their next president, a high -stakes ballot in which Ferdinand Marcos, son of the late dictator of the same name, was promised by polls a landslide victory.
It calls on the approximately 67 million Filipinos to vote between 6 am and 7 pm (local time) to elect the vice president as well as deputies, half of the senators, 81 provincial governors and other local elected officials. . Analysts predict a strong turnout.
Ten candidates are running to replace President Rodrigo Duterte, in a round ballot in which a relative majority is enough to be elected.
And Ferdinand Marcos junior seems to be on track to accomplish the return to power of the fallen dynasty nearly 40 years after his exile.
Polls predict a victory for the 64-year-old candidate, who has a nickname BongBong, with more than half the votes. If these predictions are confirmed, Marcos junior will be the first presidential candidate to be elected with an absolute majority since his father was overthrown.
A victory that some observers dread
After six years of Duterte’s authoritarian rule, human rights activists, Catholic Church leaders and political analysts fear Marcos Jr. will be brave.
We believe this will exacerbate the human rights crisis in the countrysaid Cristina Palabay, general secretary of the Karapatan Human Rights Alliance.
According to political analyst Richard Heydarian, such a victory could allow him to change the Constitution to consolidate his power and weaken democracy.
” Duterte never had the discipline and means to follow his authoritarian program. This historic opportunity may fall to the Marks. “
Supporters of his main rival, current vice president Leni Robredo, are expecting a last-minute surprise. Some analysts believe his score could benefit from a possible dislike from the polls on the part of Marcos junior’s supporters, too confident in their candidate’s success.
Other presidential candidates include boxing legend Manny Pacquiao and former garbage man and actor Francisco Domagoso. But only Marcos and Robredo are considered to have a chance to win.
Since the announcement of Ms. Robredo his candidacy for the top office in October, groups of volunteers multiplied across the vast archipelago to convince voters.
The 57-year-old lawyer and economist narrowly defeated Marcos in the race for vice president in 2016 (in the Philippines, the president and vice president are elected separately). He vowed to rid Philippine democracy of corruption, in an archipelago where a few families control the country.
In an enthusiastic speech in front of hundreds of thousands of supporters, Leni Robredo said on Saturday: success awaits us.
Marcos and his ally vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte-daughter of the incumbent president-say they are best qualified for unite the country.
The power of disillusion
Hundreds of thousands of supporters dressed in red attended the last rally of Marcos and Duterte in Manila on Saturday night.
We tried other leaders and they were even worse than in Mark’s timesaid Josephine Llorca, who believes that successive governments after the 1986 revolution that ousted the family have not improved the lives of the poor.
We have seen no progress. If other administrations succeed, I don’t think we will have BBMshe added, referring to the initials of wall Marks.
Regardless of the outcome of the ballot, Marcos ’opponents have already vowed to continue efforts to disqualify him for an earlier tax offense conviction, and pay him billions of dollars owed in property taxes.
This is another crossroads for ussaid Judy Taguiwalo, 72, an anti-Marcos activist who was twice arrested and tortured during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. We must continue to rise up and fight.
Grenade attack near the polling station
Nine people were injured in a grenade attack outside a polling station in the southern Philippines hours before the general election began, police said Monday.
The attack took place late Sunday in the municipality of Datu Unsay on the island of Mindanao, a haven for many armed groups, from communist rebels to Islamist militants.
Minutes later, another grenade exploded in the nearby municipality of Shariff Aguak, killing no one.
According to police, the nine victims left their remote mountain villages on foot to go to the municipality and vote around 06:00 local time on Monday (22:00 GMT on Sunday), the time when everyone of polling stations in the opened archipelago.
An Electoral Commission spokesman said checks were being conducted to determine if the explosions on Sunday night were election -related.
Vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte tells reporters she hopes not to be voters deprived of their rights because of violence.
Elections are a traditionally volatile time in the Philippines, with loose gun laws and a violent political culture.
In 2009, Maguindanao was the scene of the deadliest period of political violence in the country. Armed men suspected of working for a local warlord attacked a group of people to prevent a rival from contesting the election, killing 58
Source: Radio-Canada
