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Reflections on the Philippine presidential race

By Diana J. Mendoza

T he race for the presidency in the 2022 Philippine elections may be the most highly divisive and contested referendum for the highest public office in the country. It is a high-stakes and high-risk contest with intense pressures to win from both the top contenders for the office and those who support them. Focusing on the top two contenders, it is a race between stopping one seeking a path back to power and electing one seeking a great reset of powers in the government.

Instead of focusing on what challenges await the next President and the country, we focus on what we can learn from the race for the presidency.

1. Elections are not just about voting candidates into or out of of fi ce. These are not merely about the change of names and faces. Elections are about the transfer and legitimation of power. Should we take a step forward to usher in a new (or reformed) governance system or take two steps back to restore an old, tarnished, and contested rule?

2. Elections should not be about those who run for office. It is about the people who should be served — their needs, rights, interests, and demands. Don’t we all deserve a new government that helps more (or mostly) the vulnerable and the marginalized while seeking to protect all regardless of any markers of differences?

3. People cannot be restrained or constrained. Filipinos are resilient. True. But when it’s their future and their loved ones’ future at high stake, they mobilize and organize. Doesn’t the spirit of volunteerism we all witnessed renew and give new meaning to the Filipino’s “ bayanihan ,” from that of communal cooperation to collective action and accountability?

4. Conventional politics must end. Political parties cannot effectively steer the public space until genuine political party reforms are made. Shouldn’t we sustain the “people’s movements” seeking to expand the political space available and bring in the concerns of everyday life that are silenced by dominant powers operating in the society?

5. No issues are either politically or morally compelling. Politically contentious or not, all issues are and should always be both politically and morally compelling. Shouldn’t we stand up for the oppressed and unjustly persecuted and the basic sectors who are really in need? Shouldn’t we stand against the politically and morally corrupt?

6. Public service is the name but public accountability is the rule of the game. Article XI, Section 1 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution states that “Public office is a public trust … officers and employees must at all times, be accountable to the people…” Why is it so difficult to execute? Shouldn’t all those who run audit themselves first even before running?

Instead of focusing on what opportunities await the next President, we focus on the salient issues and tasks for the next President to act on. These issues and tasks echo those of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Department of Political Science published in a working paper series related to the 2022 presidential and vice-presidential elections and accessible via admupol.org.

1. Pass a Security of Tenure (SOT) law that will protect workers against abusive contractualization. The next President must certify the SOT bill as urgent and mobilize support from both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Review overseas employment and prioritize the creation of jobs locally and the organization of a task force on reintegration while sustaining protection mechanisms. Forge bilateral agreements to safeguard Filipinos abroad and create migration resource centers outside of the NCR (National Capital Region) and urban areas to assist families back home.

2. Stop the misogyny and privileging of men over women that still envelope Philippine governance and politics. Socio-economic targets should not be gender-blind. They should be speci fi c and implicit in achieving gender equality and underscore bringing people together instead of polarizing the polity as well as framed and executed with an ethic of care.

3. Declare and address a crisis in education aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Provide higher funding for education where the Philippines’ current 3% budget is lower than what is required by UN standards. The next President must be able to resolve issues concerning the mismatch of the skills and talents of graduates that our education system produces and the needs of our society as well as demands of industries.

4. Develop a strong public healthcare system with strong public health infrastructure throughout the country that are able to respond to any pandemics like COVID-19, non-communicable diseases, and other-health related concerns. Toward this end, the next President must ensure the effective and efficient implementation of the Universal Health Care law, the provision of free and accessible healthcare through the National Health Insurance Program and Health Care Provider Network in provinces and cities.

5. Synergize the imperatives of the security sector and justice sector reforms with Sustainable Development Goal 16 which includes the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels. There is a need to shift from a militaristic, anti-insurgency approach toward human security and a whole-of-government approach to addressing the root causes of rebellion.

6. Put inclusivity, transparency and accountability at the core of the government. Don’t we all deserve public of fi cials who do not only demonstrate excellence in public service but also maintain a culture of excellence? Under the leadership of the next President, can all agencies and instrumentalities of the government aim for a culture of excellence by meeting International Public Sector Accounting Standards and earn the Commission on Audit’s seal of approval? Can the next President direct all government agencies to an audit of its management system to meet the international standard for quality management systems? To start the process, will the next President boldly order a full disclosure policy that can promote greater transparency in public service, and hence, start combating problems of corruption and patronage politics?

In light of these salient lessons and tasks, will the next President of the Philippines draft a new history with a renewed faith in democracy? Or will the next President thrust the country and its people back to a history that will forever remain tarnished, mired, and highly contested?

Diana J. Mendoza, PhD is faculty and former chair (2017-2021) of the Department of Political Science, Ateneo de Manila University.

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Why the 2022 Philippines election is so significant

There are 10 candidates vying to replace Rodrigo Duterte as president, but only two really matter.

The Philippines goes to the polls on May 9 to choose a new president, in what analysts say will be the most significant election in the Southeast Asian nation’s recent history.

Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte leaves office with a reputation for brutality – his signature “drug war”  has left thousands dead and is being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) – economic incompetence, and cracking down on the media and his critics.

Keep reading

‘our generation’s fight’: robredo’s campaign to stop marcos jr, leila de lima release urged after witnesses retract testimony, us, philippines kick off their largest-ever military drills, duterte ally wrests control of tv signals used by abs-cbn.

Duterte has also been criticised for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed at least 60,439 people in the archipelago.

There are 10 people battling to replace him, but only two stand a chance of winning.

The first is frontrunner Ferdinand Marcos Jr, popularly known as “Bongbong” and the namesake of his father, who ruled the Philippines as a dictator until he was forced from office and into exile in a popular uprising in 1986.

The second is Leni Robredo, the current vice president and head of the opposition, who has promised more accountable and transparent government and to reinvigorate the country’s democracy.

“This election is really a good versus evil campaign,” University of the Philippines Diliman political scientist Aries Arugay told Al Jazeera. “It’s quite clear. Duterte represents dynasty, autocracy and impunity. Robredo stands for the opposite of that: integrity, accountability and democracy.”

What happens on election day?

Some 67.5 million Filipinos aged 18 and over are eligible to cast their vote, along with about 1.7 million from the vast Filipino diaspora who have registered overseas.

Polling stations will open at 6am (22:00 GMT) and close at 7pm (11:00 GMT). The hours have been extended because of the coronavirus pandemic and the need to avoid queues and crowds.

Once the polls close, counting gets under way immediately, and the candidate with the most votes wins. There is no second round so the name of the new president could be known within a few hours. The inauguration takes place in June.

As well as the presidential race, Filipinos are choosing a new vice president – the position is elected separately to the president – members of congress, governors and thousands of local politicians including mayors and councillors.

Politics can be a dangerous business in the Philippines and there is the risk of violence during both campaigning and the election itself.

In one of the most horrific incidents, dozens of people were killed and buried by the roadside in 2009 by a rival political clan in what became known as the Maguindanao massacre .

Who is in the running for president?

Opinion polls suggest Marcos Jr remains in the lead although Robredo appears to be closing the gap.

The 64-year-old dictator’s son attended the private Worth School in England and studied at Oxford University – Marcos Jr’s official biography says he “graduated” but the university says he emerged with a “special diploma” in social studies.

He entered politics in the family stronghold of Ilocos Norte in 1980, and was governor of the province when his father was forced out of power and democracy restored.

In 1992, he was elected to congress – again for Ilocos Norte. Three years later, he was found guilty of tax evasion, a conviction that has dogged him ever since but does not seem to have hindered his political career.

Marcos Jr was elected a senator in 2010, and ran unsuccessfully for the vice presidency six years later when he was pipped to the post by a resurgent Robredo.

On the campaign trail, Marcos Jr has talked of “unity” but has provided little detail on his policies and has avoided media interviews and debates.

His running mate is Sara Duterte-Carpio , Duterte’s daughter, who took over as mayor of Davao City from her father and is leading the field for vice president.

Robredo is the current vice president and a human rights lawyer who got into politics in 2013 after her husband – a government minister – was killed in a plane crash.

She threw her hat into the ring at a relatively late stage, and has relied on a network of pink-clad volunteers to win over voters across the archipelago.

Thousands have turned out for her rallies, some of then standing for hours in their hot sun waiting to hear the presidential hopeful speak. Robredo, whose running mate is Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, is running on a platform of good governance, democracy and an end to corruption.

Other candidates include champion boxer Manny Pacquiao , Manila mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, and a former police chief Panfilo Lacson.

Why would a Marcos victory be controversial?

Ferdinand Marcos became president of the Philippines in 1965, winning over Filipinos with his charisma and rhetoric, and taking control of a country that appeared at the time to be one of Southeast Asia’s emerging powerhouses.

Backed by the United States, Marcos won a second term in office in 1969, but three years later he declared martial law claiming the move was necessary to “save” the nation from communists.

For the next 14 years, he ruled the country as a dictator.

More than 3,200 people were killed – their bodies often dumped by the road side as a warning to others – and even more tortured or arbitrarily jailed, according to the US academic and historian, Alfred McCoy.

Marcos’s biggest rival, Benigno Aquino, was assassinated as he got off a plane at Manila airport.

The killing shocked Filipinos at a time when they were increasingly angry at the corruption and extravagance of the Marcos regime. Even as many lived in poverty, the Marcos family bought properties in New York and California, paintings by artists including impressionist master Monet, luxury jewellery and designer clothes.

Transparency International estimated in 2004 that the couple embezzled as much as $10bn during their years in power, and Imelda , Marcos’s wife, has become a byword for excess.

But since the former dictator’s death in Hawaii in 1989, the Marcos family have sought to rehabilitate themselves, trying to portray the dictatorship as some kind of golden age.

In 2016, Duterte allowed Ferdinand Marcos to be buried in Manila’s heroes cemetery, complete with a 21-gun salute .

Now the Duterte family is allied with the Marcos one, and their bid also has the support of other politically influential dynasties in a country where blood ties are more important than any political party.

“The meteoric resurgence of the Marcoses is itself a stinging judgement on the profound failures of the country’s democratic institutions,” academic Richard Javad Heydarian wrote in a column for Al Jazeera in December. “Decades of judicial impunity, historical whitewashing, corruption-infested politics and exclusionary economic growth has driven a growing number of Filipinos into the Marcoses’ embrace.”

Many worry the election of Marcos Jr, particularly if Duterte becomes vice president as widely expected, could herald a new era of repression.

“The two are the offspring of two strongman rulers,” Arugay said. “Can we expect restraint and inclusive government? You don’t need to be a political scientist to answer that question.”

Earlier this week, some 1,200 members of the clergy of the Catholic Church endorsed Robredo and Pangilinan describing them as “good shepherds”. At least 86 percent of Filipinos are Catholic.

“We cannot simply shrug, and let the fate of our country be dictated by false and misleading claims that aim to change our history,” they said.

Will the result be accepted?

When Marcos Jr lost the vice presidential race by 263,000 votes in 2016, he challenged the result in court.

With the stakes much higher this time around, some analysts worry he could do so again if Robredo manages to pull off a victory.

The role of social media

Filipinos are avid users of social media and the platforms have played a key – and divisive – role in the election, intensifying the more toxic elements of political campaigning.

Marcos Jr and his team have been accused of using – and abusing – online platforms.

In January, Twitter suspended more than 300 accounts promoting his campaign, which it said breached rules on spam and manipulation.

Joshua Kurtantzick of the Council on Foreign Relations says Marcos Jr has also benefited from “the legacy of Duterte, who fostered the spread of disinformation and made it easier for another strongman to win”.

Senatorial race

While all eyes are on the presidential race, it is worth keeping an eye on the senate, too.

Leila de Lima, who has spent the past five years imprisoned in the national police headquarters in Manila after questioning Duterte’s drug war, is campaigning for office again.

The opposition senator is hopeful she may soon be released after two key witnesses withdrew their testimony .

De Lima was the target of vicious, misogynistic attacks by Duterte and his supporters before she was charged in 2017 with taking money from drug lords while she was justice secretary in the government of the late Benigno Aquino III .

De Lima has denied the charges and Human Rights Watch has said the case is politically motivated.

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What to make of the 2022 midterm results and what it might mean for 2024

Some takeaways from the 2022 midterms: surprising, a possible return to normalcy, and a “relief”– of sorts, Stanford scholars say.

While votes from the U.S. midterm elections are still being counted and the full results of various state races are not entirely certain, what is clear is Americans did not succumb to paranoia or violence as feared, say Stanford researchers.

According to some scholars, the election felt almost like a return to normalcy: The most vocal election deniers lost, candidates running on extreme platforms failed to resonate with voters, and even polling – which has been off in previous years – fell reasonably within the margins of error. In an election where democracy was on the ballot, it proved to be one that was largely free, fair, and trustworthy.

Here, Stanford scholars – with expertise in democracy, politics, election administration, voting, polling, and surveying American attitudes – reflect on how the 2022 election has unfolded thus far, offering their explanations on outcomes ranging from the anticipated red wave that was more of a trickle, Democrats faring better than expected, and the limited role that disinformation appeared to play in this election compared to 2020. They also share what initial results might signal about 2024, when the next general election will take place. Scholars include:

• Bruce Cain , professor of political science in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S), and director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West
• Emilee Chapman , assistant professor of political science in H&S
• Didi Kuo , associate director for research and senior research scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law in the Freeman Spogli School of International Studies
• Nate Persily , the James B. McClatchy Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and co-director of the Cyber Policy Center
• Robb Willer , professor of sociology in H&S

Some answers have been edited for length and clarity.

What one word would you use to describe the midterm elections so far, and why?

Bruce Cain (Image credit: Courtesy Bruce Cain)

Cain: Relief … This was a gut check on American sanity, and fortunately, we passed (although not with honors). There was just enough recognition that the country cannot surrender to paranoia and violence.

Chapman: Complicated. Maybe the only clear narrative about the midterms is that there is no clear narrative. So far, a lot of the analysis has focused on what didn’t happen: the Republican wave that didn’t materialize. But there is no clear story about what did happen.

Persily: Surprising. I don’t think anyone predicted the particular mix of races that were won and lost. It’s quite rare that you would see such idiosyncratic results throughout the country, especially at a time when the president is so unpopular and the economy is in such a fragile state. One would have thought that there either would have been a wave election, but that would be a consistent story around the country. But instead what we see are pockets of Republican dominance and pockets of Democratic victories. Republicans have done really well in Florida and New York. Democrats have done really well in the Midwest and rust belt, except for Ohio, and then the Southwest is extremely competitive.

Is there anything you have been surprised by? 

Cain: The outcome in California’s Congressional District 22 was heartening in that David Valadao, who had the courage to defy Trump and vote for his impeachment, was able to get reelected in a Republican seat. We need to have a responsible two-party system with a conservative party we can trust to uphold the values of democracy. I was also surprised at the margin of the no vote on Prop 30 [a ballot measure that proposed a tax to support the purchase of electric vehicles], but people seemed to appreciate that it may not be a good thing to let Uber and Lyft executives determine the state’s budget appropriations.

Emilee Chapman (Image credit: Courtesy Emilee Chapman)

Chapman : I wouldn’t say I’m surprised (there was a lot of uncertainty around this election), but many of the most serious worries about what this election might mean for American democracy have not come to pass. Because of recent threats against election workers and election denialism, there had been concerns about the possibility of widespread violence and disruption on Election Day, but that didn’t happen. The localized issues that arose on the day seem pretty consistent with a typical election.

Another concern going into this election was the possibility that a Republican wave would place a number of election deniers in a position to oversee elections or overturn results in key swing states. The worst-case scenario also failed to materialize here, though I am watching a few close and important races in Nevada and Arizona.

Willer: The midterm results are surprising from a fundamentals perspective. There is a tendency for the party that holds the presidency to lose Congressional seats in the midterms. Further, widespread concerns about inflation also would be expected to hurt the party that controls the presidency and Congress. Finally, Biden is relatively unpopular right now, at a level that historically would foreshadow major midterm losses. And while Dems likely will lose ground in the House, and could still lose control of the Senate as well, it was a much smaller outcome than I expected.

What explains the anticipated Republican red wave being more of a “trickle”?

Robb Willer (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

Willer: Well, one possibility is that Trump’s unpopularity and ongoing efforts to subvert democracy are hurting Republicans. You can see evidence for this in the poor performance of several Trump-backed candidates.

Another possibility is that Republicans ran many very low-quality candidates with little political experience, like Mehmet Oz, Herschel Walker, and others. This is also related to Trump’s ongoing influence over the party, as many of these low-quality candidates gained nominations in part through Trump endorsements. Additionally, Republican voters’ willingness to vote in primaries for candidates with little or no political experience is likely related to the legacy of Trump’s presidency.

But it’s very hard to disentangle the possible negative effect of being associated with Trump from the possible negative effect associated with low candidate quality. An example would be Republican Senate candidate Hershel Walker performing worse than Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp in Georgia. Is that difference because Walker is more aligned with Trump than Kemp, and some people were turned off by that? Or is it because of the many ways in which Walker is a historically bad candidate? Or is it something else entirely, like Kemp being an incumbent? It’s very difficult to disentangle these things, especially because Trump tended to endorse lower-quality candidates.

And, importantly, we also see examples of Trump-backed candidates – like JD Vance in Ohio – performing well – so I don’t think there’s a clear, nationwide repudiation of Trump and Trumpism here.

Are there any issues you are closely following?

Cain: The fact that the surveys got this right for the most part given that so many of the races were within the margin of polling error. But more importantly, we will see whether the attacks on the legitimacy of American elections abate or simply careen further into endless litigation and factual fantasies.

Chapman: I am, of course, most closely following the state-level races that will shape the impact of election deniers in 2024.

I am also following two other things with curiosity: One is ranked choice voting. Alaska recently adopted instant runoff (a form of ranked choice voting) for statewide elections, and its significance will probably be felt in this election. Ranked choice voting was also on the ballot in Nevada, and the “yes” vote appears to be leading.

The other thing I am watching is how people used early and mail-in voting. 2020 marked a substantial shift from previous elections, both because these forms of convenience voting were much more widely used, and because there was a strong partisan divergence. Democrats in 2020 were far more likely to vote early and/or by mail than Republicans. I am watching to see whether and to what extent these two patterns remain. It seems likely that the widespread use of convenience voting is the new normal, but I am worried about the polarization of the voting method. If Democrats and Republicans predictably vote using a different method, this might make people more receptive to attempts to delegitimize the method of voting predominantly used by the other side. Polarization of voting methods may also make partisan-motivated manipulation of election administration even more attractive if it is easier to identify methods on which opponents disproportionately rely.

Persily: I was mostly concerned about the administration of the election given that there are such heightened concerns about fraud and integrity, as well as voter suppression. I wanted to see whether any of those fears would be realized and thus far they have not been, but it’s still early. I think it does depend on what happens in Arizona and in the Georgia runoff to see whether we have some of the disorder that a lot of people were worried about. To be sure, there were some malfunctions in Arizona’s Maricopa County that then led to conspiracy theories being propagated both by one of the candidates and the former president. But as a general rule, this was a very smoothly run election. And election officials deserve to be congratulated for it.

What role has disinformation played in this election?

Nathaniel Persily (Image credit: Courtesy Nathaniel Persily)

Persily: We continue to be concerned about our monitoring of false narratives that are spreading online as well as potential threats to violence and other illegal behavior. The Stanford Internet Observatory has led the Election Integrity Partnership and has been investigating false claims about the election process and so they had a very busy day [on election day, Nov. 8]. It should be no surprise that Arizona, given the concerns about the machines in Maricopa County, was seen as quite an important producer of disinformation and conspiracy theories. When/if the Senate comes down to Georgia, we should expect a lot of these conspiracy theories to be revived. That’s especially true if Kari Lake wins Arizona but right now, it doesn’t seem like we have massive conspiracy theories akin to what we saw in the 2020 election.

Why do you think that is?

Persily: In part because it’s not a presidential election, which means that Donald Trump doesn’t have exactly the same megaphone that he had back then and he can’t be as formidable a player. Also, I think because there’s no systematic story you can tell around the country. There’s no man behind the curtain who is pulling all the levers that, on the one hand, would lead to Republican dominance in Florida and in most of New York, and on the other hand, Democrats being successful in the Midwest. We’ll see in individual races like in the Georgia runoff and in Arizona and maybe Nevada but there’s no theme of election rigging that could stick to the facts on the ground they developed on Nov. 8.

Is there anything about the 2022 election that makes it unique from other elections, midterms, or otherwise?

Cain: Normally, the first midterm of a presidency is all about the incumbent president. It was indeed about Biden, but it was also about Trump. The DeSantis victory and Trump’s, at best, mixed record of candidate endorsements raise the odds that Trump will have a serious challenge to getting the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination.

Didi Kuo (Image credit: Courtesy Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law)

Kuo: President Trump loomed large over these midterm elections, and in some ways, the midterms were as much about the former president’s influence on Republican candidates as they were about Joe Biden’s first two years in office. The Big Lie, Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, became an election issue, particularly in state elections. Some Republican candidates, particularly those endorsed by Trump, either denied the 2020 election results or refused to acknowledge whether or not the election was fair. President Trump is considering running for reelection in 2024, so it’s not surprising that a lot of attention was devoted to MAGA candidates in these elections.  

Persily: This is the first election in the post-insurrection environment. And at a time when you had a collapse of confidence on the Republican side, with respect to the election infrastructure, there was a lot of anxiety coming into the administration of this election. Elected officials were facing unprecedented challenges, including threats to their safety and the safety of their families. I think there was justifiable concern about potential violence in the polls, but that did not materialize.

What lessons are we learning from the 2022 election that could potentially impact 2024?

Cain: We have learned once again that the country is divided into three camps – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. The Democrats achieved quite a bit in the first two years just as Obama did with the Affordable Care Act. We are likely headed back to a divided government and a fight over the debt limit. Obama was able to navigate the 2011-2012 period well enough to get reelected. Can Biden do the same? If Trump is the nominee, the election comes down to the Electoral College, not the popular vote. If DeSantis is the likely nominee, will Biden be the best person for that contest? TBD, I think.

Kuo: I think there are promising signs of politics as usual. Joe Biden has been able to pass COVID stimulus bills, the Inflation Reduction Act, and industrial policy. Despite bad economic conditions, his party did well considering that presidents typically lose seats in the first midterms after they take office; the Biden agenda seems to be resonating with voters. As of this writing, we don’t know which party will control either chamber: if Republicans have a slim majority, they will likely block Biden’s remaining agenda. However, the Republican party continues to be divided between its establishment wing and its MAGA faction, and that division will likely play out in the Republican presidential race. The midterms seem to be showing that the Republican party needs to work harder to persuade voters, and that the MAGA message may not resonate.

Persily: The fact that many of the most vocal election deniers lost was a significant development in this election. It possibly signals a retreat to normalcy in part since the 2020 election. I think that the more false claims of vote rigging are defeated, the better it is for American democracy. I think those concerns still resonate with tens of millions of Americans, and many of them are going to hold elected office, so they’re not going away anytime soon. But I think that it’s quite an important signal from this election. Many people said that democracy was on the ballot in this election. And they were right because the very basic question as to whether we could continue to run elections that were free, fair, and trustworthy was an open question coming into this election, and I think that the professional running of this election suggested that we could.

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The Philippine election is the latest example of illiberalism’s popularity

The landslide victory of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of the country’s longtime dictator, has exposed one of liberal democracy’s greatest vulnerabilities.

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Last week, voters in the Philippines went to the polls — and, by an overwhelming margin, chose the son of the country’s deposed dictator as their next president.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr., widely referred to by his nickname, Bongbong, ran on a ticket with Vice President-elect Sara Duterte — the daughter of incumbent President Rodrigo Duterte, a populist most famous for his policy of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers, who pushed the Philippines toward authoritarianism during his six years in office. Neither of these candidates ran away from their parents: on the contrary, they embraced them. And voters in the Philippines rewarded them for it.

Opponents and observers have raised questions about the legitimacy of the election, pointing to a climate of pervasive disinformation, reports of malfunctioning ballot-counting machines, and alleged voter fraud. But on Friday, Leni Robredo, the outgoing vice president and leading rival of Marcos, admitted defeat and urged her supporters “to accept the majority’s decision.”

That majority seemed to ratify a proudly illiberal governing ethos. During his presidency, the elder Duterte — who was prevented by term limits from running again — jailed political opponents , cracked down on press freedom , and built an online disinformation machine that buoyed the Marcos-Duterte ticket. And yet, at the same time, close observers of the Philippines say the strongman political style was authentically popular.

President Duterte has the highest approval ratings of any president in modern Philippine history, with his low points in the polls rivaling other presidents’ highs. That he proudly violated individual rights and attacked the separation of powers was not a turnoff, but a draw. Marcos’s overwhelming victory underscored the point.

“Duterte is the first president who represented an alternative vision for the direction of the country. Marcos is a continuation of that vision — and wants to make that known,” says Dean Dulay, a political scientist at Singapore Management University who studies democracy in the Philippines.

It’s not that Filipino voters rejected democracy, exactly: survey data still shows strong support for holding competitive elections. Rather, it’s that they are rejecting liberalism : seeing constraints on power, including fundamental rights against being murdered by one’s own government, as impediments to their leaders’ ability to bring about a better Philippines.

Marcos’s victory on these terms is part of a worldwide illiberal turn. The past decade of global politics has shown that the Philippines is not the only country where strongman politics appeal to a large constituency; what its recent election shows is that this political style can be not only popular but durable. The liberal ability to address this reality is proving to be one of the defining political issues of the 21st century.

How Duterte and Marcos rode illiberalism to victory

On many issues, including vital ones like the Philippines’ relationship to the US and China, it’s not very clear what a Marcos presidency will be like. His campaign was extremely light on policy , offering little in the way of concrete solutions to ordinary Filipinos’ problems.

What he did do, however, is link himself to two strongmen: his father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and his predecessor, Duterte. The tactic succeeded, thanks in large part to the recent history of democracy in the Philippines — and Duterte’s ability to create an alternative to it.

In a 2021 article titled “ The ground for the illiberal turn in the Philippines ,” University of Chicago sociologist Marco Garrido argues that the experience of democratic politics after the 1986 revolution against Marcos Sr. failed to live up to voters’ expectations. Filipino politics had long been dominated by a coterie of wealthy and corrupt families; neither elections nor popular protest movements seemed capable of enacting fundamental social reform.

“This string of failures has led many Filipinos to turn away from the promise of liberal democracy and reject people power as a means of achieving it,” Garrido writes.

In the 2016 election, Duterte offered a clear break, despite being the scion of an influential regional political family .

As mayor of Davao City, a city in the southern Mindanao province roughly the size of Dallas, he pioneered a brutal tough-on-crime policy involving extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals (a policy that earned him the nickname “The Punisher” ). A magnetic public presence with a tendency for outrageous statements — he has bragged about extramarital affairs and, on separate occasions, referred to both President Barack Obama and Pope Francis as a “ son of a whore ” — he sold himself as a plain-spoken alternative to the political status quo. In a tightly contested election with several candidates, he won a plurality of the vote.

In office, Duterte took a wrecking ball to the Philippines’ liberal-democratic institutions. The centerpiece of his administration was a “war on drugs” that adapted his Punisher approach nationwide, in which police and vigilante forces slaughter suspected drug dealers and users in the streets — killing between 6,000 and 30,000 people .

This willingness to flout the rules extended to other basic liberal democratic rights. Since 2017, the Duterte government has imprisoned senator Leila de Lima — an outspoken critic of the government — on flimsy drug charges . In 2018, he hounded the chief justice of the Supreme Court and ultimately forced her out of office . In 2020, his government imprisoned leading journalist (and Nobel Peace Prize winner) Maria Ressa on “cyberlibel” charges and revoked leading independent TV broadcaster ABS-CBN’ s broadcasting license.

Garrido terms this form of government a “disciplinary state.” The experience of democracy has taught many Filipinos, particularly the upper and middle class voters that form Duterte’s base , he writes, to see “the democratic state as a source of disorder: as corrupt, pliant (vulnerable to depredation by powerful actors), and ‘populist’ (catering primarily to the lower class).” In a disciplinary state, by contrast, “a strong leader steps in and imposes order by strictly enforcing valued rules ... their willingness to overreach traditional bounds is a large part of their appeal.”

In his research, Garrido found that Filipinos held these views alongside support for formal democratic institutions like elections. Instead of moving to outright dictatorship, they wanted “to ‘discipline’ democracy by circumscribing its scope with respect to certain freedoms, particularly due process and the right to vote.”

Garrido sees this attitude at work in Filipino attitudes on Duterte’s drug war. Though many Filipinos expressed some worry about the consequences of the policy, his data show that the policy remained consistently popular throughout Duterte’s time in office — reflecting the idea that it’s okay to break some rules and take some dangerous actions in pursuit of establishing order.

Duterte’s approval ratings tell a similar story. He has been consistently popular, outstripping every other president since the fall of Marcos Sr. In October 2020, Duterte’s approval rating reached a staggering 92 percent in one survey — the highest recorded at the time for any leader on the planet .

An important explanation for these numbers, according to Garrido, is both simple and dark: illiberalism has proven to be popular.

“The data suggest that Filipinos are willing to put up with extrajudicial killings, political repression, and the gutting of liberal institutions because they see Duterte as a strong leader. They question his methods but not their effectiveness,” he writes. “While there remains significant opposition to Duterte’s strongman tactics, it would seem that in general Filipinos are developing a taste for illiberal rule.”

Marcos Jr. doesn’t have Duterte’s personal charisma. What he does have is a strong support base in the country’s north due to his family’s patronage network and an ability to link himself to both the past six years of governance in the Philippines and an earlier period of strongman rule.

Though his father’s dictatorship was famously brutal and corrupt, the Marcos campaign projected a vision of the ancien regime as a golden era : a time of domestic peace, low crime, and shared prosperity. By running with Sara Duterte, he was able to sell himself both as a continuation of the Duterte model and an avatar of “make the Philippines great again”-style nostalgia politics.

Social media disinformation about the actual history of the Marcos regime did play a significant role in spreading this message, though perhaps not in the way one would think. Dulay, the Singapore-based researcher, examined the data on Filipino views of the Marcos era and found that surprisingly few voters literally believed the lies Marcos Jr. and his boosters on YouTube and TikTok were selling. Instead, Dulay argues, the propaganda tapped into a general feeling that the Philippines had gone astray in the democratic era — and that the Marcos-Duterte model represented something different and better.

“What [the videos] actually evoke is a kind of emotional response — ‘this is how it used to be, look at our country now,’” he says. “It’s not purely about information itself, but the way that it’s conveyed: so much of it is the music, the feel of the video.”

It is this gut feeling that the system wasn’t working that Duterte picked up back in 2016 — and that Marcos rode to victory in 2022.

It’s not just the Philippines

The story of the Duterte-Marcos ascendancy is not a unique one: In broad strokes, backlash against a political system seen as corrupt and out of touch has empowered right-wing populists all over the world.

In 2010, Viktor Orbán won an overwhelming victory in Hungary against an incumbent socialist government mired in scandal. In 2014, India’s Narendra Modi defeated Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty that dominated Indian politics since independence. In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s unpopularity played a significant role in Donald Trump’s shock victory. And in 2018, Jair Bolsonaro won the Brazilian presidency amid a massive corruption investigation that implicated large swaths of the Brazilian elite.

These successful demagogues differ in many ways. But they all possess an ability to tap into public discontent with the status quo.

Their campaign messages varied by local circumstance, but all put forward a vision of re-establishing public order and social hierarchy. They alleged that the liberal elite was too soft on some subversive element of society — be it criminals, immigrants, Muslims, or the LGBTQ community — that was rotting society from within, and they promised to come in and clean house.

One temptation, common among American liberals in particular, is to dismiss this message’s popularity as some kind of trick played on voters: the result of disinformation or a lack of political knowledge. But this is too simple a reading. Yes, lies and voter misperceptions have figured into the ascent of right-wing demagogues — but there is also a genuine constituency for their illiberal message.

A useful close look at this dynamic comes out of Israel, also home to a resurgent illiberal right . In 2016, the Israeli sociologist Nissim Mizrachi published a study on the failure of his country’s left-wing parties to gain support among the socially marginalized Mizrahi Jewish community (Jews of Middle Eastern descent). His interviews, both with left-wing activists and Mizrahi voters, convinced him that there is a gulf in fundamental moral vocabulary: The Israeli left has proven incapable of understanding that the Mizrahi voters do not share their philosophically liberal premises.

Mizrahim, despite their inferior social and economic position relative to the Ashkenazim (European Jews), were not swayed by appeals to inclusive social policy or an expanded welfare state. Instead, Mizrachi finds, they express a vision that places obligations to the particularity of the Jewish people and Israeli citizens first. They disliked the left’s “sweeping — and thus threatening — disruption of the boundaries of the Jewish collectivity in favor of universalistic solidarity.”

The left’s conceptual toolbox, including its deep and correct belief that Palestinians are owed political rights by dint of their humanity, left it poorly equipped to understand what these voters believed. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who evolved into a more Trump-like illiberal demagogue during his historically long time in office, exploited this moral gulf to hold power : positioning himself as a champion of this alternative moral vision against the once-dominant left-liberal establishment.

Mizrachi’s diagnosis of the Israeli situation is worth taking seriously as a global matter. It is increasingly clear that there are large swaths of voters across democratic polities for whom liberal values are not fundamental, who see liberalism’s champions in the political elite as out of touch or worse.

The challenge for liberals today is to hold two ideas in their heads at once: that far-right leaders are not only illiberal but a threat to democracy, and that there is a significant democratic constituency that finds their illiberalism not only tolerable but actively appealing. This is the lesson of the 2022 Philippine election and of other recent elections — one that liberals ignore at their peril.

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Every Filipino’s role in the game-changing 2022 elections

The 2022 elections is likely to be one of the most crucial in the country’s history as the new set of leaders that will emerge will be responsible for lifting the Philippines upward and forward after the economic slump caused by the pandemic.

So what can we expect in the lead-up to May 2022? Are the Filipino voters ready for their role as agents of change?

The latest study by Trust Central, EON’s insights laboratory, The Outlook Report on the New Filipino Voter, done in partnership with market research firm Tangere, looks at how Filipinos from all over the country view the approaching elections.

Culling from multiple sources, a digital survey via Tangere’s app, a scan of online conversations using EON’s proprietary process as well as a review of the current political landscape, the Outlook Report looks at the new Filipino voter in three ways—how deeply involved they are in the electoral process, who and what influences their votes, and what issues matter the most to them.

The survey, conducted from May 24 to May 26, covered 6,000 adult Filipino respondents and sought to better understand public sentiments and attitudes in the year leading to the May 2022 elections. The results are quite enlightening.

Resurgence of political involvement

Interest in political affairs is on the rise with 97 percent of total respondents planning to vote this coming May. This is a reversal of what happened in the last elections.

Between the 2016 and 2019 elections, voter turnout among the survey respondents aged 25 years old and above significantly decreased by 19 percentage points, going from 77 percent in 2016 to only 58 percent in 2019. However, for the upcoming elections, 83 percent of respondents within the same age range have said that they plan to vote, an increase of 25 percentage points from 2019.

Another interesting insight is that the majority of respondents (72 percent) who had voted in past elections did so for both national and local positions while 15 percent had voted only for national posts and the remaining 12 percent voted only for local posts.

These numbers tie in with the study’s finding that local concerns and initiatives are oftentimes overshadowed by national issues and activities, indicating communication gaps at the local level. There seems to be a need for local leaders, particularly those at the provincial level, to engage their constituents more to promote awareness of their initiatives.

Influences on voter behavior

With the popularity of social media, it is not surprising that it ranks at the top as the most accessible source of election-related information for voters. But when it comes to trust, Filipinos are still likely to put their trust on more traditional communication platforms, such as television, followed closely by newspapers.

While social media is the go-to source for information, Filipinos have learned to scrutinize reports from various media outlets with a more critical eye, having been enlightened by the many instances in the past when narratives were distorted to favor a particular political agenda or personal interest. Even digital natives from the younger cohorts use more conventional sources for election-related information to validate what they see and read on social media.

These show that the responsibility of journalists and news anchors as reporters of fair, truthful and trustworthy information has become even more essential as news programs and publications keep up with the changing technology and expand their reach through content seeding on the internet.

The youth will make up the majority of the 2022 voters. One notable finding related to this is that at this early stage when the campaign period hasn’t even started, family members are already flexing their influence over the younger generations on how they view the upcoming elections, attempting to sway them into registering, casting their votes and even taking into consideration particular candidates.

Key issues for voters

In spite of the distances across the Philippine islands, it is heartening to see that similar views are shared by Filipinos across all regions and age groups, an evidence of the voters’ common values and aspirations. Minor variations can be seen only among individuals belonging to the Baby Boomer generation, which can be ascribed to their more extensive voting experience.

The topmost concern across the various demographic groups remains simple—for the economy to grow and for more jobs to become available, which is not surprising given how the country has been slammed by the economic downturn caused by the pandemic. Thus, these voters expect those aspiring for higher office to include a clear economic recovery strategy in their campaign platforms to reverse the current downward spiral.

Voters also want candidates to address the long-standing culture of corruption that has pervaded the bureaucracy and to strengthen the health-care system, whose weakness has been blamed for the government’s lackluster response to the pandemic.

The majority of respondents are one in declaring that they will vote in 2022 because they want to make a difference. While the sanctity of the ballot is valued highly by most of the voters surveyed, this ideal is countervailed by their desire to be on the winning side, plus the reality of widespread poverty and unemployment across the country. This issue of winnability cuts across the different age groups of voters. But we all know that current technology can easily manufacture winnability.

So the questions remain—how long can their ideals hold before they join the bandwagon? How can we ensure that voters can stand firmly on their ideals and not just give it lip service?

With the insights gleaned from the report, we can say that Filipinos know what they want for their government. They want leaders who have integrity, who are faithful to their duties and whose love for the country is without doubt. While the past year may have left many of us reeling from the adverse effects of the pandemic, a bright light flickers before us that can change the direction for our country for the better.

With elections happening less than a year away, let us start using our voices to make the changes that we want to see happen. Now more than ever is the time to participate in nation-building. We must take the initiative to be more involved with the country’s democratic processes.

In each citizen’s hand lies the power to create a government that would truly serve our people. This power is manifested in our votes. As every Filipino’s right and duty, our votes should be used to elect those we can trust to be true public servants because for the Philippines to move forward, our actions must match our words, intentions and values.

Let us take our role as change agents seriously and encourage everyone around us to walk the talk and take a few simple steps —register, research, discern, vote and then protect that vote. INQ

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This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the MAP. The author is chair of the MAP Health Committee, vice chair of the MAP CEO Conference Committee and chair and CEO of The EON Group.

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MOVING ON AFTER THE 2022 PHILIPPINE ELECTIONS: A PERSONAL LAMENTATION AND REFLECTION 

• By Lakan Sumulong

14.May.2022

As a Filipino citizen, I have been lamenting because of the unfortunate result of the candidacy of  Leni Robredo ,  Kiko Pangilinan , and their senatorial team. As I lament, I’m reflecting on the seeming triumph of untruth and injustice. In the next six years, we will go through another socio-political darkness akin to the Marcos Martial Law and the Duterte War on Drugs. But hope, faith, and love allow me to see our short-term loss and our long-term victory as advocates of justice, peace, and reconciliation. I’m disappointed with the popular votes, but I see opportunities for a protracted, nonviolent, radical transformation of our land and our people.

Lamenting the seeming triumph of untruth and injustice

The result of the Philippine Election 2022 has been devastating for me and for the 14 million people who voted for Leni Robredo. I’m in a period of lamentation right now. Lamenting is a healthy process, especially when there is  systemic disinformation  done through, and against, the poor and when there is  self-deception among the majority of the people  whom we love.

There’s a whole collection of lamentations in an ancient scripture too. It’s there for that purpose — to help us with our lamentations.

As I lament, I constantly submit my whole being: :: to the  Creativity of the Creator  — to be a funnel of creative approaches towards a nation characterized by truth-and-love, by justice-and-mercy; :: to the  Peace of Christ  — to be a funnel of a long-lasting peace based on justice that will lead to reconciliation; and, :: to the  Energy of the Holy Spirit  — to be a funnel of strength, sustainability, and regeneration as we face the challenges of being light in this socio-political darkness.

I’ve been getting messages, some spiteful, that I have to “move on,” “respect the will of the people,” “be sport,” “accept the victory” of the one who seems to have won the election, and “cooperate with the winner.” 

Well, I’m moving on with my normal life — joyfully doing inclusive development activities and social entrepreneurial coaching among the marginalized sectors of our society. At the same time, I will keep the radar of my critical thinking up and sharp regarding the truth about the result of this election .

Motivated by my love for the Creator, for the people, and for the land, I’m committed and prompted to continue advocating and practicing the two paradoxical twins energizing peace and reconciliation: truth-and-love, justice-and-mercy. These are the real energizers of genuine reconciliation. Without these, claims of peace and reconciliation would just be a mockery and instrument of suppression as  corrupt, powerful political dynasties, of all colors, perpetuate a system of injustice and a mechanism of oppression.

Short-term loss, long-term victory

I believe we won the hearts and minds of the voters from 8% in October 2021 to 28% today — in just a few months! Imagine how much we will continue to grow in quantity because of the quality of our motive, values, character, ways, and means. Because of our positive social and ethical outlook, they accuse us of being self-righteous.

We’re not self-righteous.

We’re simply committed to seek genuine righteousness instead, and we’re crying for real justice.

I noticed that trolls and fanatics kept on bashing and cursing at the “Thank You” event of Leni & Kiko last 13 May. Are they bothered that our hopes and love-energies continue? Should they be celebrating instead? Can’t they move on and accept the fact that we’ve lost the 2022 election? Are they really confident that they have won this 2022 election?

But look! Our defeat is short-term. As my friends in the military always tell me when I’m down: “You simply lost this battle, but you’re winning your war.” They won the control of the republic; but we are winning the hearts and minds of the 14 million people who are critically thinking about, and radically loving, our people and our land. We will help the rest of them to love our country with a critical mind and a compassionate heart.

Quality produces quantity! Our loss is short-term. Our victory is long-term.

The re-energized People Power continues

The energies of hope are harmonizing. More and more, I’m realizing that hope is not dependent on winning Malacañang — the seat of power in the Philippines. Let them celebrate for winning the numbers.

We are winning the nation!

Transparency, truth, justice, and faithful stewardship will win over thievery, lies, injustice, and plunder. Energized by radical love, radical transformation is happening among those who are joining us.

We know it in our hearts. We’ll keep winning them over — in the next 6, 60, or even 600 years.

We’re just beginning!

We’ll stop thinking in terms of merely winning the election. We’ll start thinking and behaving in terms of  long-term inclusive development for our land and for our people  — beyond political parties.

And yes, we’ll also win elections along our journey.

Based on what I’ve heard from  Leni Robredo’s “Thank You” speech last 13 May , our pink campaign will be reborn as a nationwide non-government organization. On 01 July 2022, we will be formally structured as a radical transformation movement energized by radical love to serve all people of different political colors. We will demonstrate good public servanthood as civil societies through our actions and words. The politically-insecure powers and their trolls will falsely accuse the Pink Movement as ”rebels,” ”shadow government,” and other red-tagging terminologies. But we know who we are. We are concerned citizens who serve the people as non-government organization, as a nationwide civil society network of networks.

As one of the millions of ground advocates of this dream, I suggest the following:  1. Focus on consolidating our energies and resources on community organization; 2. Stop arguing with the trolls and the fanatics spiting us — they’ll just drain our energies; 3. Prepare and equip ourselves for mobilization — local, provincial, regional, national; 4. Do a SWOT analysis of our campaign and include that in our training processes;  5. Prepare, establish, consolidate, and strengthen the architectural and technological design of our information, communication, and education systems for the long haul — based on truth, justice, historical authenticity, stewardship, and transparency. 

I hope there will be stronger emphases on human rights education and values training — like, ‘truth-telling as basic social value,’ ‘financial accountability,’ and ‘equality under the rule of law.’ These are basic in the inner developmental aspects of our being — as individuals and as a nation — that would energize us to critically understand why we are mired in poverty and how to liberate ourselves from this subjugation.

I constantly remind myself of this verse from the Book of Lamentations. “Your steadfast love, O Lord, never ceases; your mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23). These truths prompt me to think creatively, to plan strategically, and to implement a wider inclusive development program.

We’re in a very exciting segment of our history.

We will remember and document these realities well.

We will carry on with our dream!

Lakan Sumulong

Dann Pantoja is beginning to use his Tagalog indigenous name — Lakan Sumulong. This is a statement that our indigenous identities can be a redeeming factor in healing our 'being' (that is, who we are as a people); help symbolize our determination to contribute what we ought to be 'doing' as a nation (that is, active, non-violent, radical transformation); and, determine how we will prioritize what we will be 'having' (that is, inclusive growth and national development based on justice and peace).

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Election as a time for reflection

Many of us were holding our breaths over the very close presidential race in the United States, wondering if it would be four more years of Donald Trump or a new era under Joe Biden. However, as results from mail-in ballots in Michigan and Wisconsin began to be counted, it seemed more likely that America might have a new president. And now it has.

This brought to mind some reflections on politics. One is that the position of leadership is not forever. America under Trump seems to have normalized the lack of social and political civility. Lies are glorified. Deeply personal insults are cheered on. People engage in intellectual gymnastics to justify policies that are morally and objectively harmful to the public. As election results in the Midwest had shown a slim but decisive Democrat win, President Trump is facing the fact that his four years in the White House are over. Thus, he resorts to all kinds of distraction and false claims to question the legitimacy of the electoral process, particularly taking aim at mail-in ballots. Trump’s actions are mainly fueled by the fear that numerous cases will be filed against him. Once he loses the presidency, he is no longer granted immunity from these lawsuits.

This brings us to the second point—that justice will find a way to put all of us, including our leaders, into account for our actions. Efforts have been made to install conservative justices in the US Supreme Court to protect Trump’s interest, but even that may not be enough to shield him from prosecution should there be strong evidence against him.

As the Philippines approaches the 2022 elections, we have time to think about our own country’s leadership. Those who think they can do anything while in power will be confronted by the same finite reality. Sure, there is a chance that they may cling on to power for a few more years. But democratic leaderships in this country have a beginning and an end. Nothing is forever. And while our high-ranking officials often get away with crimes committed while in office, and our judiciary may not be the most effective, these should not stop us from using judicial mechanisms to demand not just justice in terms of play of words, rhetoric, and strategies, but justice in its true substance.

The close of election means not just a celebration of victory or consoling those who lost. For us voters, it is a time to reflect on the end, continuation, or the beginning of visions and actions that we have collectively chosen for our society—whether or not they are mindful of the lessons of the past, attuned to the needs of the present, and responsible for their consequences in the future. For politicians, it ought to be the time to reflect on the legacy they want to leave to society, and to feel the weight of responsibility they carry in charting the present and the future of their fellow citizens.

The waves of populist leaderships across the world widened the polar extremes in our respective societies. We do not know if the end of the Trump administration also signals the closing to this chapter in history. But what is certain is that human civilization flourishes when people set their eyes not on the “what is,” but on the “what should be.” The US elections would hopefully help us reflect on whether, in two years’ time, we would resign ourselves to accepting our current political environment, or use whatever power we have to heal our deeply divided nation and commit to a new political vision for our country.

Ron Jay P. Dangcalan is a political economist and assistant professor at the Department of Social Development Services, College of Human Ecology, UP Los Baños.

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Essay on Election for Students and Children

500+ words essay on election.

Election is the process through which people can express their political opinion. They express this opinion by public voting to choose a political leader . Furthermore, this political leader would have authority and responsibility. Most noteworthy, Election is a formal group decision making the process. Also, the selected political leader would hold public office. The election is certainly a vital pillar of democracy. This is because; Election ensures that the government is of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Characteristics of Election

First of all, suffrage is an important part of Election . Most noteworthy, suffrage refers to the right to vote in Elections. The question of who may vote is certainly an important issue. The electorate probably never includes the entire population. Almost all countries prohibit individuals under the age of majority from voting. For example, in India, the age of majority is attainable at the age of 18 years.

The nomination of a candidate is also an important characteristic of Election. This means to officially suggest someone for Election. Nomination refers to the process of selecting a candidate for election to a public office. Furthermore, endorsements or testimonials are public statements to support a candidate’s nomination.

Another essential characteristic of Election is electoral systems. Electoral systems refer to detailed constitutional arrangements and voting systems. Furthermore, detailed constitutional arrangements and voting systems convert the vote into a political decision.

The first step is the tally of votes. For this purpose, there is the use of various vote counting systems and ballot. Then comes the determination of the result on the basis of the tally. Also, the categorization of most systems is as either proportional or majoritarian.

Scheduling refers to arranging and controlling of Elections. Elected officials are accountable to the people. Therefore, they must return to the voters at regular intervals of time. Elected officials must do that so as to seek a mandate to continue in office. Above all, most countries arrange elections at fixed regular intervals.

An election campaign is also an integral part of Election. Election campaign refers to an organized effort to positively influence the decision making of a particular group. Consequently, politicians compete with each other by trying to woo more and more individuals.

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Importance of Election

First of all, the Election is a peaceful and efficient way of choosing political leaders. Furthermore, citizens of a Nation choose a leader by casting their votes. In this way, the citizens are able to choose an individual whose views appeal to them most. Hence, people are able to exercise their will in political leadership.

An election is an excellent opportunity for people to express their resentment. Most noteworthy, if people are unhappy with a particular leadership, then they can remove it from power. People can certainly replace an undesirous leadership with a better alternative through Election.

The election is a handsome opportunity for political participation. Furthermore, it is a way by which new issues can be raised in public. In most democratic countries, common citizens are allowed to contest elections independently.

Consequently, a citizen could introduce reforms which are not any political party’s agenda. Also, in most democratic countries, a citizen could form a new political party to contest Election.

Election helps keep the power of political leaders in check. The ruling parties cannot afford to do any wrongdoing to the public due to the risk of losing Election. Hence, Election serves as an efficient power check and control for those in the ruling power.

To sum it up, Election is the symbol of political freedom. Most noteworthy, it is the tool which puts authority in the hands of common people. Democracy certainly would be non-functional without it. People must realize the value of Elections and come out in large numbers to vote.

Q1 What are electoral systems?

A1  Electoral systems are detailed constitutional arrangements and voting systems. These detailed constitutional arrangements and voting systems convert the vote into a political decision.

Q2 How Election helps keep the power of the political leaders in check?

A2 Elections certainly help keep the power of the political leaders in check. This is because political leaders cannot afford to do any wrongdoing to the public due to the risk of losing Election

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Tell us: share your reaction to the 2022 Philippines election result

We would like to hear from those in the Philippines and part of the diaspora about their thoughts on the election

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr has won a landslide presidential election victory with almost 30 million votes – more than double the tally of his closest rival, the current vice-president, Leni Robredo.

We would like to hear from those in the Philippines about their thoughts on the election. How do you feel about the result? What are your hopes for the future of the country? We would also like to hear from Filipinos living in the UK or in other parts of the world.

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Election Day: An Opportunity for Reflection and Action

By Risa Brown, National Data and Targeting Director, Faith in Action

Voting is one of the most sacred responsibilities we have as Americans. On November 3, 2020, we will have the opportunity to seize our power as citizens and change the course of history. Even so, every election should inspire us to make our voices heard.

However, enthusiasm for participation in the political process has fallen victim to a range of measures designed to disenfranchise the American people, especially targeting communities that are traditionally disadvantaged and discriminated against. The purging of voter rolls and so-called “voter access laws” are the latest manifestation of the same white supremacist legacy that brought literacy tests to voter registration in the South (only ended by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ). Right now, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is trying to create barriers like fees and fines – a modern day poll tax – for returning citizens that have been granted the right to vote in a state constitutional amendment.

These policies today make it so that enthusiasm and eligibility for voting alone is not enough to ensure that the American people can access their rights and hold their representatives in government accountable.

At the same time, we have also been targeted by a long con, a systemic deception that has convinced us our voices don’t matter. How many times have you heard that all the candidates are really the same, or that because of the electoral college your vote in a solidly blue or red state doesn’t matter? Make no mistake, this narrative is malicious and intentional, designed to discourage participation by those who would disrupt the status quo with their electoral choices. It nudges people to not care about the state and local elections that will directly impact their lives. And it keeps vulnerable communities from standing up for what they need because they are led to believe that no government representative will ever stand with them. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And because of both malign policies and this dangerous narrative of powerlessness, voter turnout in this country lags behind our peer nations around the world in every election. In 2016, only about 55.5% of the voting age population participated in the presidential election, leaving nearly 92 million eligible American voters without a voice. And turnout is historically lower in midterm and state and local elections. What can be done to reverse this trend and reclaim our democracy?

That’s where National Voter Registration Day came in. At first glance, it may have seemed like just another feel-good note on the calendar that doesn’t get you a day off of work. But if you considered that registering to vote is the entry point to wielding your power as a citizen of the United States, it became clear that this was no ordinary day.

Recently on National Voter Registration Day volunteers around the country conducted voter registration outreach in their own communities – at work, at school, and on their block with their neighbors. The conversation also moved online where we connected our Facebook friends and Twitter followers to resources about how to get registered in their state of residence and stay informed about elections. As we head toward 2020, Faith in Action is working to flip the formula on voter engagement by engaging communities on the issues that matter to them most. Our colleagues will continue to build enduring power for people of color and working families that translates into more freedom, less fear and more opportunity to thrive. This new formula is not ambivalent; it is a bold and conscious set of choices to do our political work differently that is bringing those on the margins of our democracy to the center.

Over the last thirteen years I’ve registered voters in a variety of communities: on the streets of Newark and in the suburbs of Los Angeles, in Black, Latinx, AAPI neighborhoods. I’ve registered young people getting ready to graduate from high school and retirees who have been anchors in their communities for decades. Regardless of where I worked, there was always a story about how people were removed from the vote. It was heartbreaking to hear how people didn’t know they could register to vote. Some people thought they were registered and I had to tell them they weren’t. So many communities are disenfranchised from taking the most basic and most impactful way to change their communities: voting.

As Americans, we have so much to be proud of. But we also have to deal with a complex legacy of power dynamics around race, gender, and economic status that should not dictate our nation’s future. The 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, wasn’t ratified until 1920, so for more than half our nation’s history women have been institutionally silenced in politics and government. The 26th Amendment, which officially lowered the national voting age to 18, wasn’t ratified until 1971 when young men were being drafted to fight in Vietnam without having a say over the policies and politicians sending them there.

This history makes us stronger because we know the power of lifting up our voices to right wrongs and demand change. Take a moment today to check your registration status or reach out to a friend or family member to make sure they know how to register – and what’s at stake. Next year’s presidential election depends on it.

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Bagong Pilipinas? How Filipinos see the next 6 years under Marcos Jr.

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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Dictator’s son Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is poised to win the presidential race by a wide gap, raking in more than 31 million votes as of Wednesday, May 11, while opposition leader and Vice President Leni Robredo lags behind with less than half of the front-runner’s votes.

Robredo supporters who actively participated in the campaign – dubbed “historic” for its huge rally turnouts and the large-scale volunteerism that defied traditional political machinery – did not hide their dismay over the disheartening turn of election results. On the night of May 9, election day, Marcos kicked off with a strong lead over Robredo which he maintained all throughout.

Neither did Robredo’s running mate, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, have a better chance against the President’s daughter and Marcos’ vice presidential bet, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.

Using the hashtag #ElectionAftermath, several voters took to social media to share what they could only see as a dreaded future looming as another Marcos takes over Malacañang.

“Papunta pa lang tayo sa exciting part. (The exciting part is yet to come.) Buckle your seatbelt. The dark side of history is yet to come,” one Twitter user said.

Papunta palang tayo sa exciting part. Buckle your seatbelt. The dark side of history is yet to come. #ElectionAftermath — Jelly_btsarmy04 (@latteloveee_) May 10, 2022

User @edlingui calls the next six years “the worst ride of our lives as Filipinos.”

Some also underscored the massive disinformation and historical revisionism that led to the comeback of the Marcoses, whose patriarch was ousted by the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. 

Now that the Marcoses are back in power, netizens fear that the worst is yet to come in the battle for facts.

They were able to pull this off only with vloggers, alternative media, and troll farms using their (stolen) funds despite not having any government position. Imagine what they can do with a state-controlled media and massive resources. #ElectionAftermath — James-Andrew (@sarmientoj24) May 10, 2022

Marcos’ presidential bid had its share of controversies. Petitions, which were eventually dismissed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), sought to disqualify him on the grounds of his tax evasion case in the 1990s. But since he is now set to lead the country, a Twitter user asked, “can we not pay our taxes until he pay (sic) his?”

While many are starting to picture what the next six years is going to look like, others remain hopeful that history repeats itself – only in the spirit of People Power.

On May 10, following election day, several groups already trooped to Comelec to protest the “unjust” election process. 

just sharing an excerpt from my history paper. hindi pa tayo tapos. and so, never thought i'd say this, in the last sliver of hope for our nation and future: may history repeat itself. #HALALAN2022 #ElectionAftermath pic.twitter.com/GXQgO2fyOH — ♡ (STILL ALIVE + WRITING BUT QUITE BUSY) (@ficsional) May 10, 2022

Just because it already happened before, it doesn't mean that it won't happen again. #ElectionAftermath pic.twitter.com/t8uzpH4R1V — ًbalshi (@BalshiPTRPMD) May 10, 2022

Now more than ever, be a reminder and never delete that blasted past. Remind your kids who they are. Tell people who they really are. The seat of power is temporary. Maniningil ulit ang bayan. #ElectionAftermath — Toby (@KeiroKeropi) May 10, 2022

Marcos supporters see hope

But for Marcos Jr.’s supporters, his long-awaited victory tells another story.

As partial, unoficial tallies showed the BBM-Sara tandem enjoying a significant lead over their rivals, supporters flocked to the Uniteam headquarters to celebrate .

Many of them believe the son will follow in the footsteps of his father, whose legacy of corruption and violence-marred authoritarian rule has been rebranded by disinformation propaganda as the country’s “golden age.”

“Alam kong meron kaming future. Alam kong ipapagpatuloy nya ‘yung ‘di pa nagagawa ng tatay niya sa mga Pilipino.” Jannette Salsona, 43, biked here from Manila (Sta Ana). | via @ramboreports #PHVote #WeDecide pic.twitter.com/WPqYGyReQJ — Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) May 10, 2022

Lita (not her real name), 44, came from France 3 weeks ago. She’s elated to come home to a Marcos victory. “Kung ano ang ginawa ng ama, ipagpapatuloy ng anak.” | via @ramboreports pic.twitter.com/QpuubBGFWX — Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) May 10, 2022

Others found respite in the tandem’s call for “unity,” and saw their avoidance of media and debates as a sign of humility, a symbol of a future free from political friction and toxicity.

Another one cited Marcos Jr’s unity message as the reason he spoke with us. “Lahat puwede,” this other supporter said. | via @ramboreports — Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) May 10, 2022

“Gusto ko BBM kasi humble at tahimik lang. ‘Di siya nakikipagbangayan. ‘Di siya sumasama sa mga gulo, sa mga negatibo ‘di niya pinapatulan.” Andrei Adena, 22, from Malabon. | via @ramboreports pic.twitter.com/pUjjHSIcpw — Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) May 10, 2022

“Ang kabaluktutan ng EDSA ay dapat ituwid natin. Dapat magkaisa na. Kung ano ang kulay ka man, magsamasama tayo, para hindi tayo laitin ng ibang bansa.” Manny Macario, 51, from Imus, Cavite. He founded ng Marcos Family Loyalist United Group. pic.twitter.com/gjKZICMwCe — Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) May 10, 2022

To their supporters, Marcos and Duterte nabbing the two highest posts in government ushers in the aptly phrased “Bagong Pilipinas” (new society), a trademark campaign of the Uniteam.

In the Senate race , Duterte allies and members of powerful political clans fill the Magic 12. Two candidates, Alan Peter Cayetano and Mark Villar, are immediate relatives of incumbent senators, while reelectionist brothers JV Ejercito and Jinggoy Estrada are poised to win back their seats. Risa Hontiveros is the lone opposition bet to make the cut.

How do you see the future of the Philippines under the new administration? – Rappler.com

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TV News Can’t Sidestep Turbulence as Election Approaches

ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN all face questions about their future, just as one of the toughest journalistic assignments looms.

By John Koblin

Television news may have never been this unsettled six months before a presidential election.

ABC News is in the throes of change, after its president announced on Sunday night that she was leaving . The parent company of CBS is in the midst of a sale process , which could leave the news staff with a new owner. NBC is just weeks removed from an on-air revolt in which prominent anchors questioned leadership. CNN employees are still settling in with a new chief executive, who is promising a different direction .

Much of the challenge for television news divisions is, at its core, how to navigate a fast-evolving business. Evening newscasts, prime-time cable shows and morning programs continue to draw large audiences, but their viewership is growing older and steadily declining.

Instead, viewers are flocking to less lucrative streaming services, leaving the parent companies of the networks less sure-footed. The networks are trying to invest in that future — building out streaming hubs and hiring on-air talent and producers for their digital channels — all while keeping a close eye on traditional television, still a profitable business that helps fund those investments.

And all of this is happening as news organizations face one of the trickiest journalistic assignments: an especially divisive presidential race.

“At a time when television news organizations face one of their most important challenges and responsibilities in covering a national election, they’re also facing significant internal challenges,” said Andrew Heyward, a former president of CBS News who now works with a group of M.I.T. researchers studying the future of news. “The last thing they need is internal disarray.”

Many people in the industry say the news organizations still have plenty of resources and experience to ably cover major news events in the coming months and years. Mr. Heyward likened the teams at TV news stations that cover presidential elections to “a well-oiled machine.”

Yet in recent months, there have been numerous distress signals .

Layoffs have been rampant at print, radio and television news organizations throughout the country for over a year. A Gallup poll found that the level of trust in the news media tied a record low last year , over the half-century that the question has been asked.

CNN has gone through several leadership changes since 2021, and its viewership is down considerably from just a few years ago. CNN’s current chief executive, Mark Thompson, has acknowledged that the network is confronting an “ existential question ,” and that the company is exploring a new digital strategy.

The president of ABC News, Kim Godwin, the first Black woman to run a broadcast news division, had a difficult run in the position from nearly the get-go. ABC’s parent, the Walt Disney Company, tapped her from CBS in 2021 to help smooth over a culture that was rocked by some internal strife, including an episode in which an executive was let go after being accused of making racist remarks .

The headaches piled up fast for Ms. Godwin. Employees questioned her leadership style after a few high-profile departures and the ouster of several senior executives, including those involved with news gathering and talent relations. Her hands-off approach also rankled many.

In 2022, after it was publicly revealed that the “GMA3” anchors T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach were romantically involved, Ms. Godwin initially kept the two on the air. It took her several days to reverse course, after the relationship had set off a wild tabloid spectacle. The pair left the network nearly two months later .

The network’s “Good Morning America” has had ratings trouble. Its top rival, NBC’s “Today,” has notched ratings wins in a key metric — adults under the age of 54 — for many months, and even “CBS Mornings” has bested “G.M.A.” several times over the last five months, a highly unusual development.

The corporate calculus also shifted for Ms. Godwin — and is reflective of the increasing pressure on traditional media companies. The Disney executive who hired her, Peter Rice, was fired a year after her arrival. Months later, the person who pushed out Mr. Rice, the Disney chief executive Bob Chapek, was let go by the company’s board.

Little more than a year after she was hired, Ms. Godwin had two new bosses: Robert A. Iger, Disney’s current chief executive, and Dana Walden, a co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, who succeeded Mr. Rice.

With growing concerns over Ms. Godwin’s performance, she would soon have a third new boss: Debra OConnell, a nearly three-decade Disney veteran who effectively took over responsibility for ABC News in February .

Ms. Godwin signed a contract extension and retained her title, but the arrangement lasted only a few months. In a note to employees on Sunday night, she said she was leaving broadcast journalism altogether and departing the network “and this profession with the sincerest sense of pride, accomplishment and gratitude.”

Ms. OConnell said she would oversee the news division “for the time being,” a suggestion that someone will eventually be tapped to run ABC News day to day.

Ms. OConnell has plenty of experience in sales, marketing and distribution, but little experience as a journalist. Her appointment was in keeping with how media executives seem to be handling leadership positions at their news divisions, which in recent decades normally went to people who had spent years working as news producers.

Wendy McMahon, the chief executive of CBS News, has a background in local television. Cesar Conde, the chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, has limited journalism experience and was tapped after a successful run at Telemundo.

In March, Mr. Conde and several of his top lieutenants in the news division confronted a withering internal backlash after they hired Ronna McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, as an on-air contributor. She was let go within days, and Mr. Conde took responsibility for the hiring.

But Mr. Conde had been hired for his acumen as a businessman, like many others as all these companies navigate a rapidly changing business model.

“Your core product, on which you’ve built your business, the linear newscast, has little or no relevance to the next generation of news consumer,” Mr. Heyward, the former CBS News president, said. “All of these companies have to reinvent themselves on the fly, which is a difficult thing to do.”

John Koblin covers the television industry. He is the co-author of “It’s Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO.” More about John Koblin