Elections | Filipinos cast vote in midterm polls crucial to Duterte

Filipinos voted yesterday in midterm elections highlighted by a showdown between President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies who aim to dominate the Senate and opposition candidates fighting for checks and balances under a leader they regard as a looming dictator.

Nearly 62 million Filipinos have registered to choose among 43,500 candidates vying for about 18,000 congressional and local posts, including 81 governors, 1,634 mayors and more than 13,500 city and town councilors in 81 provinces, in one of Asia’s most rambunctious democracies.

Final results are expected to be declared in at least a week for national posts and a few days for local positions unless specific outcomes come under protest.

Many see the elections as a crucial referendum on Duterte’s rise to power with a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs that has left thousands dead, his unorthodox leadership style, combative and sexist joke-laden outbursts and contentious embrace of China.

“President Duterte’s name is not on the ballot but this is very much a referendum on his three years of very disruptive yet very popular presidency,” Manila-based analyst Richard Heydarian said.

The outcome will show whether the Filipino populace affirms or rejects Duterte’s authoritarian-style leadership in an Asian bastion of democracy, Heydarian said.

Wearing casual clothes, Duterte cast his vote at a school in his hometown in southern Davao city before voting closed at nightfall. He told reporters that he was ready to step down if all his candidates lose.

Asked about his three children, who are running in the elections, Duterte said he wished they would abandon politics. He warned his daughter, Sara, who is running for re-election as Davao city mayor and has been seen as a possible successor for him, that the presidency “will just destroy you.”

The most crucial races are for 12 seats in the 24-member Senate, which Duterte wants to fill with allies to bolster his legislative agenda. That includes the return of the death penalty, lowering the age for criminal liability of child offenders, and revising the country’s 1987 constitution primarily to allow a shift to a federal form of government, a proposal some critics fear may be a cover to remove term limits.

Military and police forces were on full alert to respond to any violence, especially in security hotspots that include the entire southern region of Mindanao, and to help prevent cheating amid intense local political rivalries.

Two explosions were reported in southern Maguindanao province, including one grenade blast shortly before voting started at 6 a.m. that caused no injuries. In Lanao del Sur province, also in the south, three men in a parked van were arrested after they tried to hurl a grenade at soldiers guarding a voting center in Marantao town. The grenade hit the van’s window and exploded in the van, wounding one of the three suspects, who also possessed a homemade bomb, army brigade commander Col. Romeo Brawner said.

Despite pockets of violence, Commission on Elections spokesman James Jimenez said the campaign has been relatively peaceful compared to past years. Police say 20 people have died in poll-related violence. Jim Gomez, Philippines, AP