Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's allies appear to have held the top spots as unofficial results of a mid-term Senate election begin to trickle in, signalling broad public backing for the strongman leader. Key points: The election was billed as a referendum on the controversial leader The election was billed as a referendum on the controversial leader The massive ballot will decide 18,000 posts nationwide, including half the Senate The massive ballot will decide 18,000 posts nationwide, including half the Senate Full official results are expected to be released within a week Early results suggested Duterte-backed candidates would take most of the 12 Senate seats available, with just one taken by the opposition side. A Senate majority would lessen the chance of censure moves and lower house probes against Mr Duterte's Government and make it easier to pass controversial legislation, such as restoring capital punishment and changing the constitution to introduce federalism, and possibly extend term limits. Nearly 62 million Filipinos were registered to vote in Monday's midterm elections in one of Asia's most rambunctious democracies. ( AP: Bullit Marquez The ballot was billed as a referendum on the mercurial President, with the focus on his bid to boost his influence over an upper house vital to him delivering on his reform agenda. The Senate is just as crucial to his opponents, traditionally a check on state power and a bulwark against the kind of political dominance that Mr Duterte is building. Overall, the massive nationwide ballot will decide 18,000 posts, including more than 200 mayors and governors, half of the 24-seat Senate, and 245 seats in a lower house expected to again be stacked with loyalists to Mr Duterte. However, late into the night, hours after voting ended, only a small fraction of the tally was available due to problems transmitting results. Full official results are expected in four to six days. The midterms come at a time when the 74-year-old former mayor is seemingly untouchable, with last year's spiralling inflation now under control and recent polls showing his Senate candidates scoring highly. His own public approval rating sits at a staggering 81 per cent. "It's not the right environment for the opposition. The opposition could have targeted other candidates instead of making the campaign against President Duterte," said political analyst Dindo Manhit. "That's a hard battle. That would've been challenging." Candidate posters are plastered across Manila, like this street in Santa Ana, a lower-middle-class inner suburb. ( ABC News: Dave Tacon Police reported several minor shootings and bombings in notoriously hostile areas on poll day, and said vote-buying was massive, with more than 200 arrests. Technology was a problem, with hundreds of instances of electronic voting machines malfunctioning and trouble with the election commission's internet servers. Mr Duterte's popularity has helped to insulate him from criticism over his deadly war on drugs, his misogynistic jokes and insults directed at the Catholic Church, and his indifference toward China's rapid militarisation in the South China Sea. He looks set to consolidate power further in the latter half of his presidency, having recruited for his candidates a potent surrogate in his daughter and Davao City Mayor, Sara Duterte, in what is being seen as a succession play for the 2022 presidential election. Reuters<doc-sep>The Philippines’ controversial president Rodrigo Duterte appears to have secured a resounding victory in mid-term elections that were billed as a referendum on his hardline, authoritarian rule. Preliminary results suggest candidates endorsed by Mr Duterte have taken nine of the 12 crucial Senate seats up for grabs in Monday’s vote. The 24-member Senate has been the most important check on Mr Duterte’s power during his three years in office so far. If the unofficial results are confirmed, it would give the president an effective majority in the upper house and allow him to pursue unencumbered an agenda that includes massive infrastructure spending, the return of the death penalty and even re-drafting the constitution. With his sexist jokes, foul-mouthed public statements and allegations against him of massive human rights violations, Mr Duterte has been seen as a divisive figure. But analysts said it was difficult to argue with his personal appeal to voters in the Philippines based on these election results. “This president's popularity and transferability of his popularity [to other candidates] is unprecedented to say the least, despite all the controversies,” said Manila political scientist Edmund Tayao. The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Show all 9 1 /9 The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On killing drug addicts “These sons of whores are destroying our children. I warn you, don’t go into that, even if you’re a policeman, because I will really kill you. If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful” The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Message to China “I will go there on my own with a Jet Ski, bringing along with me a [Phillipino] flag and a pole, and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, ‘Kill me’ ” AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Christmas message to law-breakers “If you do not want to stop, and just continue committing crimes, then this would be your last Merry Christmas” AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On sex life “I was separated from my wife. I’m not impotent. What am I supposed to do? Let this hang forever? When I take Viagra, it stands up” AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On the drugs trade “None of my children are into illegal drugs. But my order is, even if it is a member of my family, ‘kill him'" AP The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting the Pope “We were affected by the traffic. It took us five hours. I asked why, they said it was closed. I asked who is coming. They answered, the pope. I wanted to call him: ‘Pope, son of a wh**e, go home. Do not visit us again’” AFP/Getty Images The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Joke about rape “I saw her face and I thought, 'What a pity... they raped her, they all lined up. I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first” AFP/Getty The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte Insulting Barack Obama "Mr Obama should be respectful and refrain from throwing questions at me about the killings, or son of a bitch, I will swear at you in that forum" REUTERS The most controversial quotes from Rodrigo Duterte On Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants "If I have to face them, you know I can eat humans. I will really open up your body. Just give me vinegar and salt, and I will eat you. If you annoy me to the fullest... I will eat you alive. Raw" EPA The opposition had suffered a “wipe-out” in the election, Mr Tayao said, which also included votes for hundreds of mayors, governors and congressmen across the country. It failed to take any of the 12 up-for-grabs Senate seats, the other three appearing to go to independent candidates. One of the four remaining incumbent opposition senators, Leila de Lima, is also the biggest public critic of Mr Duterte's anti-drugs crackdown that has seen thousands of suspects killed by police. She has been detained since 2017 on narcotics charges. Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Senate's independence would not be in question, but the vote showed the public overwhelmingly backed Mr Duterte and his vision. “Undoubtedly, the Duterte magic spelled the difference,” he said. “People yearn for stability and continuity of the genuine reforms that this administration started. They yearn for a constructive and not obstructionist Senate.” The profiles of the successful candidates backed by Mr Duterte are a clear indicator of just how fed up the Philippine public is with previous ineffective progressive leaders. They include Imee Marcos, the daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, as well as former national police chief Ronald dela Rosa, who enforced the president's crackdown on illegal drugs. With the Senate on his side, Mr Duterte could yet enact his most controversial policy yet. He has spoken previously of rewriting the country's 1987 constitution to allow a shift to a federal form of government. It is a proposal that some critics fear may be a cover to remove term limits. As things stand, Mr Duterte must step aside in 2022 after serving a single, six-year term. Strict protections against a return to dictatorial rule were written into the constitution after Marcos was thrown out in a popular revolution. Nonetheless, given his already firm grip on the lower house, Mr Duterte could pass a redrafting of the constitution if he can secure the backing of 18 of 24 senators. The opposition, which has at times successfully fought Mr Duterte’s attempts to roll back civil liberties and accuses him of risking the Philippines’ claims in the South China Sea by pandering to China, said on Tuesday it will not give up. Official results from the Commission on Election will not be released for around another week. “Our fight for justice, for sovereignty and a more progressive future for our people continues,” said incumbent opposition senator Francis Pangilinan.<doc-sep>MANILA — Allies of President Rodrigo Duterte appear to have swept the elections for the Philippine Senate, according to unofficial results on Tuesday, giving him a stronger grip on the one legislative chamber that had shown some degree of independence from his authoritarian rule. With more than 95 percent of the vote counted, candidates backed by Mr. Duterte looked likely to win all 12 of the seats in the 24-member Senate that were up for election in Monday’s voting. If that is confirmed in the coming days by the Commission on Elections, then a small opposition bloc in the Senate that had managed to thwart some of the president’s agenda will become substantially weaker. One by one, candidates in an opposition alliance known as Otso Diretso, meaning Straight Eight, threw in the towel on Tuesday, and a spokesman for Mr. Duterte essentially declared victory. “The victory of the administration candidates and the shutout of the Otso Diretso candidates send a strong message that our people yearn for stability and continuity of the genuine reforms that the administration started,” the spokesman, Salvador Panelo, said in a statement. He said the new Senate would help in “crafting the president’s legislative agenda.”<doc-sep>Winners of Monday’s vote will allow Duterte to consolidate power and push through some of his most controversial policies — allowing children as young as 12 to be tried like adults and continuing a brutal war on drug peddlers and users — despite international condemnation. The president himself was not running, but had made his picks clear. Twelve Senate seats, 200 representatives of the lower house, and thousands of other positions were up for grabs. MANILA — A dictator’s daughter and the commander of President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war were among the winners of the midterm elections in the Philippines, a resounding endorsement for the strongman leader’s policies. Advertisement Early unofficial results show a landslide defeat for the opposition. Liberal candidates who ran on platforms of justice and inclusion lost to former police chief Ronald ‘‘Bato’’ Dela Rosa, who oversaw the drug war, and Imee Marcos, the daughter of deposed president Ferdinand Marcos. The two were among the senatorial candidates who got the most votes, and will almost certainly be among 12 senators elected Monday. Marcos will be the second from her family in the legislature, after her brother Ferdinand Jr. Another poll-topper is Bong Go, a former special assistant to the president who rose to viral fame as a meme after his selfies with world leaders. An independent investigative report found that Go spent more than 30 times his net worth on the campaign, and he has been accused of using government resources to his advantage. The early results trickled out after a roughly seven-hour lag in tallying the votes by the Philippine election commission. While the elections were generally perceived to have proceeded without issue, there were reports of vote-buying, faulty counting machines, and at least 20 cases of election-related violence. Earlier polls had indicated Duterte allies would dominate the elections. The populist leader enjoys a roughly 80 percent approval rating, in sharp contrast to the international shock around his rhetoric and policies, ranging from the drug war to his pivot to China away from the United States, a long-term ally. Advertisement Human rights watchdogs estimate the war on drugs has left at least 25,000 people dead, prompting an International Criminal Court preliminary inquiry into the killings. The Senate was seen as the last institutional resistance to a looming authoritarian rule. Administration allies dominate the House of Representatives, and a chief justice critical of Duterte was ousted last year. The victory could mean the passage of key policies under Duterte that he was unable to realize during his first three years in office. Apart from lowering the minimum age of criminal liability to 12, these could include the reinstatement of the death penalty and a shift to federalism that would further empower the political dynasties in the countryside. ‘‘What Duterte has done here is consolidate the political elite around him,’’ said Tony La Viña, former dean of the Ateneo School of Government. ‘‘I would say that 99 percent of politicians in this country are behind Duterte.’’ Marcos, whose father’s reign was defined by brutality, corruption, and excesses until his ouster in 1986, ran under the party of Sara Duterte, the daughter of the president and current mayor of Davao. The Marcos family is believed to have stolen $5 billion to $10 billion from the state during its two-decade rule. Advertisement A US court previously found Imee liable for the death of a college student who was tortured after he questioned her qualifications for a government position in 1977. She recently made headlines again after Princeton University officials denied her claim of having graduated from there. Another one of Duterte’s top picks who triumphed in the elections was Francis Tolentino, his former political adviser. The opposition was entirely left out of the top 12. This leaves five senators from the Liberal Party in the upper house. One of them, Leila de Lima, has been detained for what critics believe are trumped-up drug charges. ‘‘The discourse on what we fought for during the campaign does not end with elections,’’ Liberal Party president Francis Pangilinan said Tuesday. ‘‘[These] include China’s encroachment on our territory and economy, extrajudicial killings . . . and the loss of just salaries and work for our countrymen, as well as many other gut issues.’’ But La Viña says ‘‘it’s not as catastrophic as it seems,’’ as midterms are typically won by the administration. He added that the opposition only lost two seats — previously held by Bam Aquino and Antonio Trillanes, another vocal critic of Duterte. Trillanes was not seeking reelection. Save for former Senate president and Duterte’s partymate Koko Pimentel, the rest of the Senate are mostly independents, although a number enjoyed the president’s endorsement. Other winners include former senator Pia Cayetano, the sister of Duterte’s 2016 vice presidential running mate, and a former actor, Bong Revilla. Revilla, who mounted his campaign amid corruption charges, has been ordered to return $2.37 million to the national treasury. Advertisement While some of the new senators are expected to kowtow to Duterte’s policies, analysts believe that a number of them will still vote in their personal interest. ‘‘Duterte doesn’t automatically have the votes for everything he wants,’’ said La Viña. But trouble, he says, may arise if the legislature is mobilized to unseat opposition figures, like De Lima or Vice President Leni Robredo, which would be easier to accomplish with Duterte’s majority. The massive hit for the president’s critics reflects what analysts say is a public perception of the opposition as elitist. The Liberal Party fielded eight candidates, branded as the ‘‘Otso Diretso’’ or ‘‘Straight Eight.’’ But La Viña believes the opposition could have benefited from a broader alliance with independents and the left, rather than promoting their own party principles. ‘‘The strategy is actually not to fight Duterte, but to fight for positive things,’’ said La Viña. ‘‘You really cannot fight Duterte.’’<doc-sep>
Candidates supported by President Duterte looked set to win most of the seats in a key midterm senatorial election in the Philippines, unofficial results showed Tuesday. With 94 percent of ballots counted, Duterte allies were on track to take nine of 12 open seats in the country's upper house. Official, complete results from the nation's election commission are expected in the coming days, with the winning candidates expected to assume office by the end of June. "A win by pro-administration candidates would mean successful consolidation of power under the president," Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, told DW. "Usually, the last part of a president's six-year term is when you see popularity going down and an administration having a hard time implementing campaign promises and passing laws. But that is not the case with this president," he added. Unprecedented popularity The preliminary results of the elections reflect Duterte's most recent public approval rating, which stood at a staggering 79%. Such a high approval rating almost three years into a presidency is unprecedented in Philippine politics. After taking power in 2016, Duterte launched a series of polarizing initiatives like a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs, which is estimated to have claimed thousands of lives, and pro-China policies despite Manila's territorial disputes with Beijing over the South China Sea. The deadly drug war drew condemnation internationally but mostly approval in the Philippines. "I don't like that a lot of people have been killed in the drug war, but I like that the streets are now safer at night. Even criminals are scared of Duterte," said Tonying Lopez, an office employee. Others like Annie Cortez, a 58-year-old housewife and devout Catholic, have learned to dismiss the president's vulgarity and cursing of God. "Those are just words. What's important is his actions like passing a free education and healthcare law," she said. Many Filipinos view Duterte's strongman image and invectives aimed at the likes of the European Union and the United Nations as elements of his uncompromising political will. Duterte's deadly war on drugs is estimated to have claimed thousands of lives over the past three years Political analyst Richard Heydarian says that Duterte's popularity is less about him and more about a longing for an authoritarian leader. In his book, "The Rise of Duterte," Heydarian writes that just before Duterte's rise to power, close to 60 percent of Filipinos preferred "a strong leader who does not have to bother about parliament and elections." Similar numbers were observed in places like Turkey and India — countries that have also elected their own kind of a strongman ruler. Opposition in shambles The midterm elections had about 43,000 candidates making a bid for some 18,000 government posts, among them more than 200 mayors and governors and 245 seats in a lower house in which Duterte is all but certain to retain his huge majority. The most crucial positions at stake are the 12 available slots in the 24-seat Senate. Many experts see the Senate as the last hold out that stands in the way of Duterte's total dominance of the political landscape. The lower house is already filled with Duterte allies and without a strong opposition in the upper house to temper the administration's divisive policies, many fear that Duterte will have the legislative clout to push through his economic and political agenda, including a constitutional change to a federal form of government that may allow Duterte to stay in power indefinitely. "This will mean the elimination of the opposition. This will be a rubberstamp government that will serve the purposes of the Duterte administration and China. The lone voices of the opposition may be effectively silenced through the outright removal of the office of the vice president through constitutional change," Jose Antonio Custodio of the Manila-based think tank Institute for Policy, Strategy and Development Studies told DW. "The issue now is if Duterte can translate these election results into sufficient votes to pass draconian laws like the reinstitution of the death penalty or push for constitutional change," political analyst Heydarian told DW. However, not everyone seems concerned about the impact of the election results on the Senate. "Historically, the Senate has always been independent, regardless of the party list. It's the presidential elections that will really matter," said political analyst Alex Magno. Online searches for 'migrate' trending Meanwhile, Filipinos took to the internet to express their dismay with the initial election results.