More than 67 million Filipinos are set to decide on Monday who will take over the country’s presidency.
On Tuesday, it appears that the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., will win more than 16 million votes.
Marcus is said to have received around 30 million votes. His strongest opponent, Lenny Robredo, is said to have received no more than 14 million votes. He writes CNN.
These numbers have not been officially confirmed. It may take several weeks.
Ferdinand Marcos Sr. had to resign from the presidency 36 years ago. The family has not been in power since then.
If the primary election results are up, it appears Marcus Jr. Once again the political dynasty enters the presidential palace.
Troubled family history
In the Philippines, the Marcos family was previously known for human rights abuses and corruption.
Democratic rights were severely weakened under Marcus Sr., who also used to provide himself and his family from the state treasury.
His wife, Imelda Marcos, for example, was the owner of more than 3,000 pairs of designer shoes. The shoe collection was found when the family had to flee the presidential palace in 1986. It later became a symbol of the family’s wealth and the absence of democratic rule.
Many pairs of shoes were later housed in the National Museum in Manila.
Marcus Jr. has worked hard to change people’s impression of family. At the same time, he refused to apologize for his father’s actions as president.
Marcos and his social media campaign took serious measures to wash down the family’s name and history, Agence France-Presse writes.
Six years with Duterte
In recent years, Rodrigo Duterte has ruled the island nation with an iron fist.
His daughter Sarah ran for vice president for Marcos. She also seems to have won the elections by a good margin.
Duterte became world famous for his extremely strict drug policy. During his presidency, his government executed thousands of drug addicts.
During his election campaign, Duterte promised to kill all criminals in the country. Even those who were involved in drug offenses thus had to pay with their lives.
He also called the Pope a “child whore” and joked that he would have liked to have been involved when an Australian missionary was raped and murdered in the country.
pink discount
Lenny Robredo was the strongest opponent of Marcos and Duterte. She wrote that she led the “Rose Revolution” in the country BBC. Robredo has served as Duterte’s vice president for the past six years.
She had one goal of her campaign: to prevent the Marco family from regaining power.
Robredo, the only presidential candidate, garnered widespread support among younger voters. It is also supported by many celebrities in the country.
Now it seems that Robredo should consider the battle lost.
people are protesting
Many Filipinos celebrated the initial election result on Tuesday, but it was also met with strong opposition.
On Tuesday, mass demonstrations took place outside the offices of the Electoral Commission in the capital, Manila.
There was great enthusiasm about the elections. Even before polling stations opened on Monday morning, there were reports of shootings and grenade attacks at several polling stations.
So far, no such incidents were reported on Tuesday.
Four people were confirmed killed on Monday. The four were said to have been killed in shootings at two different polling stations on the island of Mindanao.
The deceased must have three guards and one civilian. The police and the army were stationed in a number of polling stations in the island state.
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