Elections in the Philippines are of several types. The president, vice-president, and the senators are elected for a six-year term, while the members of the House of Representatives, governors, vice-governors, members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board members), mayors, vice-mayors, members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod/members of the Sangguniang Bayan (city/municipal councilors), barangay officials, and themembers of the Sangguniang Kabataan (youth councilors) are elected to serve for a three-year term.
The Congress or Kongreso has two chambers. The House of Representatives or Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan has 292 seats as of 2013, of which 80% are contested in single seat electoral districts and 20% are allotted to party-lists according to a modified Hare quota with remainders disregarded and a three-seat cap, which are only accessible to marginalized and under-represented groups and parties, local parties, and sectoral wings of major parties that represent the marginalized. The Constitution of the Philippines allows the House of Representatives to have more than 250 members by statute without a need for a constitutional amendment. The Senate or Senado has 24 members which are elected on a nationwide at-large basis; they do not represent any geographical district. Half of the Senate is renewed every three years.
The Philippines has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form a coalition government. The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is responsible for running the elections.
Under the Constitution, elections for the members of Congress and local positions (except barangay officials) occur every second Monday of May every third year after May 1992, and presidential and vice presidential elections occur every second Monday of May every sixth year after May 1992. All elected officials, except those at the barangay level, start (and end) their terms of office on June 30 of the election year.
Presidential poll: Rodrigo Duterte's lead insurmountable
'It's with humility, extreme humility, that I accept this, the mandate of the people,' Duterte says in Davao City
NEXT PRESIDENT. Davao city mayor Rodrigo Duterte enjoys a huge lead over his opponents. File photo by Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – With 87.5% of precincts already accounted for, Rodrigo Duterte, mayor of Davao City, is the presumptive winner of the 2016 presidential elections in the Philippines.
According to the unofficial and partial results from the Commission on Elections’ transparency server, Duterte has 14,680,126 million votes or 36.6% of transmitted votes as of 3:08 am on Tuesday, May 10.
MORE THAN 'COMFORTABLE.' Rodrigo Duterte remains on the top spot of the presidential race.
Duterte currently enjoys a more than comfortable lead ahead of Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II and independent candidate Grace Poe. While Roxas and Poe has been switching ranking since precincts closed, Duterte has not even once been dislodged from the top spot.
Duterte is expected to hold onto the top stop as the remaining provinces that are yet to complete their transmission are not vote-rich.
The PDP-Laban standard-bearer’s performance in the polls (36.6%) surpassed results of voter preference surveys, where he peaked at 33% with margin of error of +/-1.5%.(READ: Rappler Poll Monitor)
Anti-establishment firebrand Rodrigo Duterte told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday he would "accept the mandate of the people."
"It's with humility, extreme humility, that I accept this, the mandate of the people," Duterte said in Davao City, which he has ruled as mayor for most of the past two decades. – with a report from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com
