MANILA — Filipinos headed to the polls on Monday in a hotly contested election that has been described as probably the most consequential in a long time, one that can form the path of the nation’s fragile democracy and remodel alliances with the USA and China.
Though there are 10 presidential candidates on the poll, the competitors is seen as a two-way race between Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the previous dictator, and Leni Robredo, the nation’s vp.
However the vote is extra a contest of values than a contest of candidates.
Critics say a win for Mr. Marcos — after six years of President Rodrigo Duterte — might threaten the way forward for democracy within the Philippines, considered one of Southeast Asia’s most populous nations. Mr. Duterte is restricted to a single six-year time period beneath the Structure.
Ms. Robredo, who has promised to revive freedoms which have been rolled again beneath Mr. Duterte, is polling far behind Mr. Marcos, although she has impressed a grass-roots political motion and drawn a whole lot of hundreds of younger individuals to her rallies in latest weeks.
The election will likely be carefully watched by each Beijing and Washington. The subsequent president is prone to play a task in America’s efforts to counter China’s aggression within the Indo-Pacific, a precedence for the Biden administration. The Philippines is the one U.S. treaty ally bordering the South China Sea, a significant maritime delivery route and the location of assorted territorial disputes between Beijing and a number of other nations in Southeast Asia.
On this archipelago nation of 110 million individuals, main election points embrace local weather change and the economic system. Votes are tallied by province, with outcomes anticipated to trickle in over the subsequent few days. A winner may very well be introduced inside days.