“Bongbong” president. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Junior, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, has largely won the presidential election in the Philippines, according to a first count given on Tuesday May 10 in the morning (Monday May 9 in the evening in Paris) which gives him a definitive lead over its closest rival. Final certification of the vote should take several weeks.
Aged 64, Marcos Junior obtained 27 million votes according to a provisional count. He should thus become the first president in the history of Philippine democracy to be elected with an absolute majority. It was enough for him, during this ballot in a single round, to be the one of the 10 candidates who obtains the most votes to win.
About 67 million Filipinos were called to the polls for these general elections, during which the vice-president was also to be designated as well as the deputies, half of the senators, the provincial governors and thousands of other local elected officials. Polls had predicted a landslide victory for Marcos Jr, after an election campaign marked by torrents of misinformation.
The horrors of the dictatorship passed over in silence
For years, pro-Marcos Junior accounts have invaded social media, portraying his father’s 20 years of rule (1965-1986) to young Filipinos as a golden era of peace and prosperity for the Philippines. And ignoring the tens of thousands of opponents arrested, tortured or killed, or even the billions of dollars stolen by the Marcos clan from the coffers of the country for their personal enrichment.
The regime had been overthrown in 1986 by a huge popular revolt, and the Marcos family had gone into exile in the United States, before returning to the country to reweave a powerful network of political support there.
Monday was marked by violence. At least four people have been killed across the country in attacks on polling stations. Sunday evening, the explosion of a grenade in front of another had left nine injured.
