news, local-news, The make-up of the Senate hung in the balance on Saturday night, with neither major party expected to secure an upper house majority. At 9.45pm with 18 per cent of the votes counted, the Coalition had secured 11 seats and appeared set to win another four. Labor had also won 11 Senate spots while the Greens appeared on track for four seats. The final Senate results are not expected to be known for several weeks. Forty seats are being contested in this federal election - six in each state and two in each territory. Across Australia, 458 candidates vied for an upper house spot. Federal elections are won and lost in the House of Representatives, but the make-up of the Senate is critical to whether the government of the day can implement its full agenda. Neither Labor nor the Coalition is likely to control the Senate, meaning they will have to negotiate with the Greens, micro parties or independents to pass legislation. New Senate voting rules introduced before the 2016 election prevented obscure micro-candidate parties with very low primary votes from swapping preferences to wrangle an upper house seat. That means the next parliament is unlikely to see a repeat of what Tony Abbott described as the ''feral'' Senate elected in 2013, including Ricky Muir of the Motoring Enthusiast Party, who attracted a mere 479 primary votes. However, candidates from smaller parties remain a good chance to nab a handful of Senate spots. Contenders include controversial mining magnate Clive Palmer, of the United Australia Party, who has spent $60 million on political advertising in his bid for a Senate comeback. His chances have been helped by a preference deal with the Coalition. Mr Palmer is considered the main threat in Queensland to Pauline Hanson's One Nation candidate, Malcolm Roberts. The two are also up against far-right senator Fraser Anning, who is predicted to lose his Senate spot. On the progressive side of politics, the Greens are defending six of their nine Senate seats at this election - one in every state. The party is in for a tough contest in NSW, Queensland and South Australia, and appears unlikely to hold the balance of power in the next Senate. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc758r0xzs96bsmbhcda8.jpg/r0_1027_2934_2685_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg<doc-sep>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has the Senate. The ongoing tally of yesterday’s midterm elections shows that a majority of those likely to win the 12 available national Senate seats are allied with the controversial head of state. This includes Cynthia Villar, who is currently number one in the polls, based on partial, unofficial results aggregated from the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) data as of 9:16am today. She currently has 24,299,170 votes based on 93.91 percent of Election Returns, a report generated by vote-counting machines in polling precincts that show the counts for national and local elections. Duterte campaigned for Villar, who is a part of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) alliance formed by first daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. Senatorial candidates currently in the top 14 include: Cynthia Villar Grace Poe Bong Go Pia Cayetano Bato de la Rosa Sonny Angara Lito Lapid Imee Marcos Francis Tolentino Koko Pimentel Bong Revilla Nancy Binay JV Ejercito Bam Aquino Of the 14, 10 candidates are part of HNP. At the bottom of the list is Aquino, the only member of the opposition Liberal Party to rank in the top 14. Controversial figures likely to join the Senate are Imee Marcos, daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos; former police chief Bato de la Rosa, who launched the war on drugs; Duterte’s former aide Bong Go; and former Senator Bong Revilla, who was accused of stealing taxpayers’ money in the pork barrel scandal of 2013. With a landslide by the Duterte camp likely in this year’s polls, the president will soon have influence over all branches of the government. Of the 12 incumbent senators who did not have to run for re-election and will retain their seats until the next presidential elections in 2022, at least three openly support Duterte. This makes the majority of the Upper House Duterte allies now. Duterte gained control of the House of Representatives and the military soon after he became president in 2016. The ouster of Duterte critic and then-Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno last year was also seen as a way of gaining control of the Supreme Court (SC). Of the 14 SC justices today, seven were appointed by Duterte. The results from yesterday’s polls indicate that it’s about to get even easier for Duterte to execute his plans for the country, which include continuing the deadly drug war that has killed thousands, bringing back the death penalty, and changing the constitution. This article, Duterte allies win big in 2019 Philippine Senate race , originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters!<doc-sep>MANILA, Philippines — A tight race looms for the last three slots in the so-called Magic 12 of the senatorial elections, as shown by the latest Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) tally on its transparency server. In a PPCRV update on Tuesday morning, re-electionist Sen. Nancy Binay was at 10th place with 13,785,323 votes, while Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, or a total of 13,784,052, trailed her by a mere 1,271 votes. ADVERTISEMENT At 12th place was former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. with 13,729,911 votes — or 54,141 shy of Pimentel, while Sen. JV Ejercito is at the 13th spot with 13,541,625. He trailed Revilla by 188,286 votes. Sen. Bam Aquino, meanwhile, occupied the 14th slot, with 13,431,959 votes. Thes figures came from the second update after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) failed to transmit the tally of votes to the transparency server, mainly because of glitches. Earlier, it was reported that Sen. Nancy Villar was leading the race, followed by Sen. Grace Poe, former special presidential assistant Christopher “Bong” Go, Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, former Bureau of Corrections chief Ronald dela Rosa, Sen. Sonny Angara, former Sen. Lito Lapid, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, and former presidential political assistant Francis Tolentino. RELATED Villar leads Senate race – PPCRV partial unofficial results Comelec transparency server glitch delays release of partial poll results 80% of poll results are in, no issue with transmission – Jimenez (Editors: Alexander T. Magno, Abe Cerojano) Read Next<doc-sep>MANILA, Philippines — Veteran election lawyer Romy Macalintal — who ran under the Otso Diretso slate — accepted defeat in the Senate race Tuesday, as his fellow opposition bets struggle to enter the Magic 12. With 93% of election returns counted, Macalintal ranked 26th as of 7:40 a.m. with 3.8 million votes, making him among the first senatorial candidates to concede defeat. “From the results coming from all the clustered precincts, it is clear that a great majority of our voters have chosen other candidates. And I respect their decision as I concede defeat in this senatorial race,” Macalintal said in a statement. “I sincerely congratulate all the winners who were so fortunate to get the trust and confidence of the people to serve for six years as their Senators,” he added. The lawyer represents Liberal Party stalwart and Vice President Leni Robredo in the electoral protest filed by defeated vice presidential candidate and former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. The Presidential Electoral Tribunal is conducting a ballot recount on Marcos' selected pilot provinces. Macalintal earlier said he would push for the rights of senior citizens and persons with disabilities if elected senator. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral RESULTS: The Senatorial Race<doc-sep>
MANILA, Philippines — After seven hours, the Commission on Elections transparency server updated its transparency server to reflect the vote counts for the 2019 national elections. The poll body earlier admitted that a technical issue slowed down the transmission of the partial unofficial count to media partners. Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez stressed, though, that the server itself was receiving data. The initial results, which were in the tens of thousands, were released at 6:15 p.m. The Comelec released its second update at 1:19 a.m. showing votes in the millions. The Comelec's transparency server has resumed releasing election results to media, watchdogs. Full story in a bit, but here's a link for live updates on the midterm elections: https://t.co/9IvuGDuaQI pic.twitter.com/ggsO11jESk — Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) May 13, 2019 Sen. Cynthia Villar maintained her lead in the senatorial race followed by Sen. Grace Poe, former presidential aide Bong Go and Rep. Pia Cayetano (Taguig City). Completing the "Magic 12" so far are former Philippine National Police chief Bato dela Rosa, Sen. Sonny Angara, former Sen. Lito Lapid, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos., former presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino, Sen. Nancy Binay, Sen. Koko Pimentel and former Sen. Bong Revilla. A majority of in the top 12 in the latest results are allied with Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte's Hugpong ng Pagbabago coalition except for Poe, who ran as an independent, and Binay, who ran under the United Nationalist Alliance. In the latest update, Pimentel rose to the 11th spot from the 13th place. Sen. JV Ejercito, meanwhile, dropped to the 13th place after placing 12th in the 6:15 p.m. partial unofficial results. Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu (Maguindanao) of the administration PDP-Laban party and singer Freddie Aguilar, both of whom President Rodrigo Duterte endorsed, did not make it to the top 12. Jimenez earlier explained that there was an issue with sending the data from the transparency server to media computers linked to it, causing the delay in the released of the results. He clarified that there was no problem with the transparency server itself. — Patricia Lourdes Viray