According to preliminary results, the son of dictator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Junior won the presidential election in the Philippines. After counting more than 97 percent of the ballots cast, he has more than twice as many votes as his closest competitor, opposition leader Leni Robredo.
This puts the son of the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the helm. We do not expect the official end result in a few weeks. However, it is considered almost certain that the controversial Marcos dynasty will return to Malacañang Palace in the capital of Manila 36 years after their expulsion from the island.
Violent incidents, demonstrations
The elections were overshadowed by violent incidents in which several people were killed. Hundreds of human rights defenders and students later demonstrated. They accuse the Manila Electoral Commission of fraud and refuse to acknowledge Marcos Jr.’s victory.
According to observers, thousands of citizens could not vote in Monday’s vote due to a malfunction of the calculating machines.
His family was exiled
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. applied to succeed controversial former president Rodrigo Duterte about three and a half decades after his father was deposed and his family exiled.
After six years of authoritarian rule by Duterte, human rights activists, Catholic Church leaders and political analysts fear that Marcos Jr. could become even more autocratic as head of state.
Former vice president Robredo urges his supporters to accept the outcome and “listen to the voice of the people.” He knows many in the country are terrified of the result. “For the sake of the Philippines, which I know you love very much, we must listen to this voice, because after all, we are only separated by one nation,” explains a human rights lawyer. (AFP / SDA / no)