Election in the Philippines: Marcos Jr. heads for victory

In the Philippines, the son of former dictator Marcos has won the presidential election, according to initial figures. He has never distanced himself from his father – experts fear that he wants to make the country even more authoritarian.

In the Philippines, the family of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos is about to make a comeback. The son of the dictator couple who were expelled from the country in 1986, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., known as “Bongbong”, probably won the election – unofficial calculations suggest that, as several news agencies report.

According to this, 25.9 million people voted for Marcos Jr. after counting 80 percent of the votes. His closest challenger, current Vice President Leni Robredo, garnered 12.3 million votes. These results are not yet official, because only the Congress, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives, can announce them, which is expected for the end of May. The election was overshadowed by an attack on a polling station.

Duterte daughter as vice president

Running alongside Marcos Jr. for vice president was Sara Duterte, daughter of current President Rodrigo Duterte. After six years in office, he was not allowed to run again. Like that of former dictator Marcos, his reign was characterized by human rights violations: he was known and internationally criticized above all for his “war on drugs”, which he mercilessly implemented and which cost thousands of lives. The International Criminal Court in The Hague is investigating him.

Marcos Jr. glorifies the dictatorship

In 1986, the Filipinos drove Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda out of the country and fled to Hawaii. Hundreds of handbags and evening gowns and thousands of pairs of shoes were found in the presidential palace, relics of more than two decades of jet set life. Marcos Senior’s reign was marked by murder, torture, kleptocracy and the disappearance of political opponents without a trace.

Son “Bongbong” didn’t distance himself from it, he painted a glorifying picture of a “golden age” that he wanted to bring back. He recently described his father as a “statesman, a political genius”. The real political star in the family is mother Imelda, who can win the hearts of everyone, “from the market vendors to the Queen of England”.

Many young voters with no memory of the dictatorship

Aries Arugay, professor of political science at the University of the Philippines, fears that authoritarianism will continue to grow stronger: Marcos Jr. “wants to take the country further away from liberal democracy, make it more populist and authoritarian, that’s crystal clear,” he said.

A possible explanation why so many voters voted for Marcos Jr.: Many are still very young and have no memory of the years of the dictatorship. The candidate also conducted a successful social media campaign on TikTok and YouTube and avoided interviews and public debates.