MANILA: People waiting for their turn to vote at a voting precinct in Culiat Elementary School in Manila on Monday — AFP MANILA, May 13 (AP): Filipinos voted Monday in midterm elections highlighted by a showdown between President Rodrigo Duterte's allies who aim to dominate the Senate and opposition candidates fighting for checks and balances under a leader they regard as a looming dictator.
Nearly 62 million Filipinos have registered to choose among 43,500 candidates vying for about 18,000 congressional and local posts, including 81 governors, 1,634 mayors and more than 13,000 city and town councilors in 81 provinces, in one of Asia's most rambunctious democracies.
Many see the elections as a crucial referendum on Duterte's rise to power with a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs that has left thousands dead, his unorthodox leadership style, combative and sexist joke-laden outbursts and contentious embrace of China.
"President Duterte's name is not on the ballot but this is very much a referendum on his three years of very disruptive yet very popular presidency," Manila-based analyst Richard Heydarian said.
The outcome of the polls would show whether the Filipino populace affirms or rejects Duterte's authoritarian-style leadership in an Asian bastion of democracy, Heydarian said.
The most crucial race is for 12 seats in the 24-member Senate, which Duterte wants to fill with allies to bolster his legislative agenda.
That includes the return of the death penalty, lowering the age for criminal liability of child offenders, and revising the country's 1987 constitution primarily to allow a shift to a federal form of government, a proposal some critics fear may be a cover to remove term limits.
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