Exit polls in the Philippines presidential election point to a huge victory for Rodrigo Duterte, the hard-man mayor of Davao City, whose administration could herald a new era of anti-establishment politics.
By midnight, the election numbers reported by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), which is accredited by the election commission, showed Mr Duterte had 13.7 million votes, followed by the candidate backed by outgoing president Benigno Aquino, Manuel Roxas, with nearly eight million and senator Grace Poe third with 7.6 million.
At a news conference Ms Poe conceded defeat to Mr Duterte. “I’m giving way, I respect the results,” she said. “Duterte has a mandate. Let’s give him a chance.”
Asked earlier by a television interviewer what he thought about his apparent victory, Mr Duterte said: “Sometimes I’m victorious and the winner, sometimes there’s always losing and being sad, sometimes being sick and healthy,” he told CNN Philippines. “That is how the universe is being played every day.”
Often likened to Donald Trump, the tough guy from the southern island of Mindanao has run a controversial campaign during which he joked about raping a missionary and backed extrajudicial killings to keep crime under control.
There were problems with vote-counting machines malfunctioning in various parts of the country early in the day but it does not seem to have affected Mr Duterte’s popularity and he led from early on.
“Forget the laws on human rights,” he said in one of his final campaign speeches. “If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because as the mayor, I’d kill you.”
These kind of profanity-laced comments have endeared him to the common people. Mr Aquino said: “I hope we learn the lesson of history. We should remember how Hitler came to power”. Mr Duterte responded by describing the president a “son of a whore”.
Mr Duterte’s critics and foreign leaders are worried he will undo economic and political progress made in the last four years, but the candidate has portrayed himself as the enemy of cronyism and the leader who can stand up to the big wealthy families that have run the Philippines for generations.
There was talk of a pact to get the opposition candidates together to fight Mr Duterte, but it never materialised.
This is the Philippines' fifth election since the "People Power" revolution that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, and half of the voters going to the booths weren't alive when Marcos was ousted.
As well as the presidency and vice-presidency, voters will elect 18,000 local representatives and half of the senate. Among those standing for the senate is the Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, whose popularity has fallen sharply since he made anti-gay comments.
During Mr Duterte’s 22 years as mayor of Davao City, death squads killed more than 1,000 suspected criminals, which he has variously taken credit for and denied. He has promised to kill five criminals a week if he is elected.
The favourite to win the vice-presidency is Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos jnr, son of the infamous dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was ousted 30 years ago.
Elections in the Philippines are often marred by violence and there have been numerous warnings in urban areas. Seven people were shot dead in Rosario, south of Manila, ahead of the vote, while a mayoral candidate was shot dead on Saturday in the south. – Additional reporting Reuters/Bloomberg
