The polls closed at 7:00 p.m. local time (8:00 a.m. Argentine time), although citizens who were less than 30 meters from their voting center were authorized to cast their vote, according to electoral authorities.
Nearly 40 years after his father was deposed and sent into exile, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. seems set to restore family power.
Ten candidates seek to succeed the current president Rodrigo Dutertebut only Marcos and his rival Leni Robredocurrent vice president, seem to have a chance of winning.
A high turnout was expected among the more than 65 million people eligible to vote in these general elections in which vice president, deputies, half of the senators, provincial governors and thousands of other local officials are elected throughout the Philippines.
People wearing masks lined up before dawn to cast their ballots in front of schools and other sites converted into polling stations across the archipelago.
“A success. The long lines are magnificent. The Filipinos wanted to be heard,” said George Garcia of the Electoral Commission in a message to reporters.
Marcos voted with his younger sister, Irene, at the Mariano Marcos school in the northern city of BatacWhere is your family from?
In turn, Robredo was received by supporters who chanted “Leni, Leni” when she arrived to vote at a school in the municipality of Magraoin the central Philippines.
After a rough campaign, opinion polls point to a clear victory for Marcos, with a double-digit lead over Robredo in recent polls.
Under Philippine electoral law, the winner is the one with the most votes, without the need for a minimum percentage of support.
Marcos’ campaign has gone to great lengths to cover up the brutal and corrupt record of his father’s regime and to capitalize on voter disenchantment with recent governments.
After six years of authoritarian rule by Duterte, Human rights advocates, the Catholic Church and political analysts have expressed fear that Marcos will be driven to govern even more harshly if he wins by a wide margin.
Other candidates running for president in the Philippines include former boxer manny pacquiao and the actor Francisco Domagoso.
The electoral process registered episodes of violence, the most serious of which was the death of four security guards when a man shot at a voting center in Buluan a troubled area in the southern Philippines.
Armed men also attacked a polling station in the province of Wool of the South in Mindanao, killing one person and wounding two others, according to police.
On Sunday night, five grenades exploded in front of an electoral center in the municipality of Date Unsayalso in Mindanao, where nine people were injured.
Source: Ambito
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