MANILA: A bruising presidential campaign ended in the Philippines on Saturday after the president made a failed last-minute attempt to unify candidates against a front-running mayor perceived as a threat to democracy.
After crisscrossing the archipelago nation for three months, most of the five presidential candidates, led by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, converged in the vote-rich capital Manila for their final rallies ahead of Monday’s election.
Thousands came for the star-studded rallies despite the broiling summer heat. Duterte held his gathering at a historic grandstand by Manila Bay where presidential inaugurations have been held, with his followers in a jubilant mood.
“The election is over,” Duterte ally Sen. Coco Pimentel told the crowd. “It’s just a matter of counting, so let’s guard our votes.”
Ronald Holmes, president of independent pollster Pulse Asia, however, said the race, one of the most closely fought in the country’s electoral history, remained too tight to call.
Duterte’s lead of 11 percentage points over former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Sen. Grace Poe in Pulse Asia’s final poll would be difficult to overtake, but it can still be “wiped out” depending on sudden loyalty shifts by voters, Holmes said by phone.
On the eve of the final day of campaigning, President Benigno Aquino III made a desperate call on candidates to agree to an alliance to defeat the brash Duterte, who has been likened to US Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump for his controversial remarks but has topped election polls.
Duterte’s lead in the polls can be overcome if his trailing rivals — mainly Roxas and Poe — join hands, Aquino said, implying that some of them should back out and support a single aspirant.
Under the Philippine electoral system, a candidate who gets the most votes is proclaimed the winner, even if no one gets a majority.
Poe, however, refused an invitation by Roxas, who is backed by Aquino, to meet and discuss an arrangement where she would be forced to back out. Vice President Jejomar Binay also said he would not step aside. Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who has trailed far behind in the polls, said she would never surrender.
Duterte’s camp said calls for an alliance against him “reeks of stench of defeat.”
“It’s an admission that a victory by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has virtually become inevitable,” said the mayor’s national campaign manager, Leoncio Evasco Jr.
After crisscrossing the archipelago nation for three months, most of the five presidential candidates, led by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, converged in the vote-rich capital Manila for their final rallies ahead of Monday’s election.
Thousands came for the star-studded rallies despite the broiling summer heat. Duterte held his gathering at a historic grandstand by Manila Bay where presidential inaugurations have been held, with his followers in a jubilant mood.
“The election is over,” Duterte ally Sen. Coco Pimentel told the crowd. “It’s just a matter of counting, so let’s guard our votes.”
Ronald Holmes, president of independent pollster Pulse Asia, however, said the race, one of the most closely fought in the country’s electoral history, remained too tight to call.
Duterte’s lead of 11 percentage points over former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Sen. Grace Poe in Pulse Asia’s final poll would be difficult to overtake, but it can still be “wiped out” depending on sudden loyalty shifts by voters, Holmes said by phone.
On the eve of the final day of campaigning, President Benigno Aquino III made a desperate call on candidates to agree to an alliance to defeat the brash Duterte, who has been likened to US Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump for his controversial remarks but has topped election polls.
Duterte’s lead in the polls can be overcome if his trailing rivals — mainly Roxas and Poe — join hands, Aquino said, implying that some of them should back out and support a single aspirant.
Under the Philippine electoral system, a candidate who gets the most votes is proclaimed the winner, even if no one gets a majority.
Poe, however, refused an invitation by Roxas, who is backed by Aquino, to meet and discuss an arrangement where she would be forced to back out. Vice President Jejomar Binay also said he would not step aside. Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who has trailed far behind in the polls, said she would never surrender.
Duterte’s camp said calls for an alliance against him “reeks of stench of defeat.”
“It’s an admission that a victory by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has virtually become inevitable,” said the mayor’s national campaign manager, Leoncio Evasco Jr.
