Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is heading for a landslide victory in the Philippine presidential election with nearly twice the votes of his closest rival, putting the son of late Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on the cusp of a historic political comeback.
Unofficial statistics from the Election Commission showed that Marcos Jr., 64, is close to passing the 27.5 million vote limit required to secure a majority in the presidential election for the first time since the end of his father’s 1965-1986 rule.
The progress of Ferdinand (Pong Pong) Marcos Jr makes it almost certain that the Marcos family will return to power, 36 years after its exit from the Philippines to exile in the United States, after his father was overthrown in the “people power” uprising in 1986, and allowed to return again in 1992 Three years after his father’s death in Hawaii, it has since become an influential force in politics, retaining its influence, vast wealth and wide-ranging relationships.
According to the election commission’s unofficial statistics, Marcos Jr. received 26.3 million votes, compared to 12.5 million votes obtained by Vice President Leni Robredo of the Philippines, with 81.8% of eligible votes counted. Marcos Jr. served as a provincial governor, a member of Congress and a senator, and his sister, Amy, is currently a member of the Senate, and his mother, Imelda, served as a member of the House of Representatives for 4 terms.
It is noteworthy that 10 candidates are competing to succeed outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, most notably Marcos Jr., outgoing Vice President Lenny Robredo, and boxing champion Senator Manny Pacquiao. During the elections, the vice president, representatives of parliament, half of the senators, and governors of the 81 provinces are also selected.
If these results are confirmed, Marcos Jr. will become the first president in the history of Philippine democracy to be elected by an absolute majority, and one round of voting suffices for him during this poll, and Filipinos usually decide their choice based on the candidate’s personality rather than his politics, and the elections frequently face the problem of vote buying and voter intimidation.
Opinion polls had expected Marcos Jr. to achieve a landslide victory after an election campaign marked by the dissemination of misinformation, according to his critics; For years, accounts loyal to Marcos Jr. invaded social media, and portrayed the era in which his father ruled the country for 20 years for young Filipinos as a golden period of peace and prosperity, ignoring the arrests of thousands of opponents who were killed and tortured, and even billions of dollars that his family collected from state coffers for their personal enrichment. .
It is noteworthy that the election campaign of Marcos Jr. – whose return is almost certain to the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila – has been lackluster and has had difficulty mobilizing his supporters, attracting fewer crowds than his opponent, Leni Robredo. He also did not participate in any television debates, and appeared in the media little during his campaign, but he made alliances with political blocs that were enough to allow him to win, and in particular his alliance with Sarah Duterte, the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, who is expected to win Elections for Vice President, which took place separately on Monday.
“I hope you don’t get tired of trusting us,” Marcus told his supporters, in comments broadcast on Facebook. “We have a lot of things we’d like to do,” and pledged to restore the country’s “unity” during his six-year term.
It is noteworthy that the election day witnessed violence, as at least 4 people were killed in attacks on polling stations, according to the police, while 9 people were injured in a grenade explosion in front of a polling station on Sunday evening.
