TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Philippines kicks off 'less festive' election season under pandemic cloud
The process should put an end to months of speculation over who will vie to succeed firebrand President Rodrigo Duterte, 76, who under the constitution cannot seek reelection and will contest the vice presidency race instead.
Change Size
Philippine boxing icon and senator Manny Pacquiao speaks as he files his certificate of candidacy to join the country's presidential race in Manila on October 1, 2021. (AFP/Jam Sta Rosa)
T
he Philippines opens a week-long window on Friday for filing of candidacy for thousands of political posts, from the presidency down to town councillors, kicking off what is expected to be a hotly contested election in May next year.
The process should put an end to months of speculation over who will vie to succeed firebrand President Rodrigo Duterte, 76, who under the constitution cannot seek reelection and will contest the vice presidency race instead.
What is usually a festive event with big crowds will be more sober this year, with restrictions in place to fight one of Asia's deadliest COVID-19 epidemics.
So far, just three contenders have declared their intention to run for president, the most famous, senator and newly retired.
Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso, a former actor, and Senator Panfilo Lacson, an ex police chief, have also confirmed they will run.
But the spotlight will be on Sara Duterte-Carpio, the president's daughter, despite her ruling out running for higher office next year.
Duterte-Carpio, 43, replaced her father as Davao City mayor when he became president, and she remains by far the most popular presidential prospect, according to successive opinion polls this year.
