Manila, Philippines (AP) – The son and name of ousted Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos led Monday’s presidential election in an unofficial count in a deeply divided democracy in Asia.
With 80% of the vote, Marco Jr. had 25.9 million, ahead of his closest rival, current Vice President Lenny Robredo, a human rights activist with 12.3 million.
The winner of the election will sit on June 30 for a six-year term as head of state in Southeast Asia, which has been severely affected by the two-year spread and closure of COVID-19.
More difficult problems include extreme poverty and unemployment and decades of Muslim and Communist uprisings. The next president must also listen to calls to punish the thousands of murders of incumbent President Rodrigo Duterte during his drug crackdown: the deaths are already under investigation. By the International Criminal Court.
Duterte’s daughter Sarah Duterte, mayor of the southern city of Davao, is running for Marco Jr.’s vice president. in an alliance of relatives of two authoritarian leaders. Their collaboration combined the voting power of their political strongholds in the north and south, increased their opportunities, but exacerbated the concerns of human rights activists.
Sarah Duterte also has a big advantage over the vice president in the unofficial electoral commission server count with 25.8 million votes. The president and vice president are separately elected in the Philippines.
“History could repeat itself if they win,” said Miles Sanchez, a 42 -year -old human rights activist. “The state of war and drug murder that took place during their parents’ time may be repeated.”
In a video released last night, Marco Jr. did not claim. the victory, but he thanked his supporters for accompanying him on the “once very difficult journey” and urged them to be careful before the vote count ended.
“Let’s see the vote,” he said. “If we’re lucky, I expect at least your help, at least your confidence, because we have a lot to do next.”
Marco Jr., whose father was ousted in 1986 following the army-backed “People’s Power” uprising, was a key leader in pre-election polls. But Robredo was shocked and angry at the hope that Marcos would regain power and use a network of volunteers to support his candidacy.
Officials said the election was relatively peaceful despite the violence in the country’s volatile south. Thousands of police and military were deployed to protect polling stations, especially in rural areas where violent political clashes took place.
Filipinos stood in long queues to vote, but voting was delayed for several hours due to malfunctions at some polling stations, power outages, bad weather and other problems.
There are eight other participants in the presidential race, including former boxing star Manny Pacquiao, Manila Mayor Isco Moreno, and former National Police Chief Senator Panfilo Laxon.
Sanchez said the violence and insults that marked the era of martial law during the Marcos era and Duterte’s drug war more than three decades later killed two generations of his family’s relatives. The grandmother was sexually assaulted while the grandfather was tortured by anti-rebel forces led by Marcos in their poor farming village in the province of South Leith in the early 1980s.
During Duterte’s attack, Sanchez’s brother, sister and sister -in -law were illegally linked to illegal drugs and separately killed, he told The Associated Press. He described the murder of his brother as “a nightmare that caused unexplained pain”.
He appealed to Filipinos not to vote for politicians who openly promote mass murder or conveniently avoid watching.
Marco Jr. avoids. and Sarah Duterte faced unstable problems during the campaign and remained steadfast in the cry for national unity despite the opening of their fathers ’presidency in some of the most interesting departments in the Philippines.
“I learned in our campaign not to retaliate,” Sarah Duterte told followers on Saturday night, the last day of the campaign, where she and Marco Jr. were.
At his rally, Robredo thanked his supporters who stopped his star flights and conducted a door-to-door battle to showcase his brand’s clean and practical policies. He asked them to fight for patriotic ideals despite the election.
“We have learned that those who wake up will never close their eyes again,” Robredo told people filling the main boulevard in the capital’s Makati district. “We have a right to a decent future and it is our responsibility to fight for it.”
In Maguindanao province, a security hotspot in the south, three barangay tanods were shot by armed men near a polling station in Boulogne city, prompting a short vote. Nine suspected voters and their comrades were separately injured Sunday night when unidentified individuals fired five rifle grenades at Datu Unsa City Hall, police said.
In addition to the president, more than 18,000 government positions are under discussion, including half of the 24 members of the Senate, more than 300 seats in the House of Representatives, as well as provincial and local offices throughout the archipelago, home to more than 109 million. Filipino. .
More than 67 million people registered to vote, including about 1.6 million Filipinos overseas.
In the contest in 2016, Duterte became a clear winner hours after the election closed and his main rivals quickly surrendered. That year, Vice President Robredo won the race against Marco Jr. and the result is known more slowly.
Associated Press reporters Joel Kalupitan, Aaron Favila and Cecilia Forbes spoke in Manila, Philippines, and Kiko Rosario in Bangkok.
Source: Huffpost
