With 96.7% of the election returns counted, the former senator won 30.7 million votes, or 58.8% of the total votes cast for president. His closest rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, got 14.6 million votes, or 28%. Despite the wide margins, Marcos Jr. avoided claiming victory on Monday night even as his supporters celebrated early Tuesday in front of his campaign headquarters.“A lot of people are saying the fight is over, but it’s not,” Marcos Jr., known as Bongbong, said in a televised speech.
So far, Marcos Jr. got the highest share of the vote since his father won the presidential elections in 1981, which the oppositionRobredo also didn’t concede, though she prepared her supporters for defeat in a speech in the early morning hours of Tuesday. “The voice of the people is becoming clearer and clearer,” she said. “In the name of the Philippines that I know you also love, we need to listen to this voice because in the end we only we have one country that we share.”
While both major candidates pledged to revive the economy and boost employment, Marcos Jr., 64, drew on the support of voters comfortable with the strong-man rule of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte. His daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, joined up as Marcos Jr.’s running mate and was leading her closest rival by an even bigger margin.Marcos Jr.
But polls consistently showed Marcos Jr. with a double-digit lead, thanks in part to alliances with most governors and influential local clans around the country. He also built a social-media presence that presented a rosy picture of his father’s dictatorship to the youth, who make up a third of the eligible voters and were not born when the elder Marcos was in power.
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