Philippines Voting Day: Marcos Jr heading for a landslide victory
Filipinos began voting on Monday for their next president. Ferdinand Marcos Junior, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is promised by the polls a landslide victory.
On May 7, 2022, supporters of candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr take part in his last campaign rally in the suburbs of Manila.
AFP
About 67 million Filipinos are called to vote between 06:00 a.m. and 07:00 p.m. (00:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. in Switzerland) during these general elections, during which the vice-president as well as the deputies are also chosen. half of the senators, the 81 provincial governors and other local elected officials. Analysts predict a strong turnout.
Ten candidates are in the running to succeed President Rodrigo Duterte, in a one-round ballot where the relative majority is enough to be elected. And Ferdinand Marcos Jr, well ahead in the polls, seems on track to complete the return to power of the fallen dynasty nearly 40 years following his exile.
After six years of Duterte’s authoritarian rule, human rights activists, Catholic Church leaders and political analysts fear that Marcos Jr will be emboldened by a landslide victory and lead the country with an even heavier grip. “We believe this will aggravate the human rights crisis in the country,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the Karapatan human rights alliance.
A vast campaign of disinformation to rehabilitate the dictatorial regime, the clientelist system and the disenchantment of voters with recent governments have fueled the return to favor of the Marcos.
Polls predict a victory for the 64-year-old candidate, nicknamed “BongBong”, with well over half of the vote. To win this ballot in a single round, it would be enough for him to be the one who obtains the most votes.
Supporters of her main rival, current vice-president Leni Robredo, are hoping for a last-minute surprise. Some analysts believe that his score might benefit from a possible disaffection from the polls on the part of supporters of Marcos Jr, too confident in the victory of their candidate.
Corruption and family dynasties
Since Leni Robredo announced his candidacy for the supreme office in October, groups of volunteers have multiplied in the vast archipelago to convince voters.
The 57-year-old lawyer and economist narrowly defeated Marcos Jr in the 2016 vice-presidential race (in the Philippines, the president and vice-president are elected separately). She promised to rid Philippine democracy of corruption, in an archipelago where a handful of families control the country.
Marcos Jr and his ally presidential candidate Sara Duterte, daughter of the incumbent president, say they are best qualified to “unify” the country.
Hundreds of thousands of supporters dressed in red attended Marcos Jr and Duterte’s final rally in Manila on Saturday night.
“We tried [d’autres dirigeants] and they were even worse than at the time of the Marcos,” said Josephine Llorca, who believes that successive governments following the 1986 revolution that ousted the family did not improve the lives of the poor. “We never saw any development. If the other administrations had succeeded, I don’t think we would have a BBM,” she added, referring to the initials of “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Risk to democracy
If the poll predictions are confirmed, Marcos Jr would become the first presidential candidate to be elected with an absolute majority since the overthrow of his father.
According to political analyst Richard Heydarian, such a victory might allow him to revise the Constitution to consolidate his power and weaken democracy. “Duterte never had the discipline and the means to follow through on his authoritarian agenda,” said Richard Heydarian. “This historic opportunity might fall to the Marcos.”
Other candidates for president include boxing legend Manny Pacquiao and former garbage collector turned actor Francisco Domagoso. But only Marcos Jr and Robredo are considered to have a chance of winning.
Personality, rather than politics, usually influences the choice of candidate, and vote buying and intimidation are also recurring issues in Philippine elections. In an enthusiastic speech in front of hundreds of thousands of supporters, Leni Robredo declared on Saturday: “victory awaits us”.
Regardless of the outcome of the ballot, opponents of Marcos Jr have already vowed to continue efforts to have him disqualified due to a previous tax offense conviction, and to make him pay the billions of dollars owed in inheritance tax. . “It’s another crossroads for us,” said Judy Taguiwalo, 72, an anti-Marcos activist who was arrested twice and tortured during martial law. “We must continue to stand up and fight.”
Published today at 00:34
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