Presidential elections , legislative elections and local elections in the Philippines will be held on Monday, May 10, 2010. The elected president will become the 15th President of the Philippines, succeeding President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is barred from seeking re-election due to term restrictions. If current Vice-President Noli de Castro should not retake office, his successor will be the 15th Vice President of the Philippines. The legislators elected in the 2010 elections will join the senators of the 2007 elections and will comprise the 15th Congress of the Philippines.
The 2010 election will be administered by the Commission on Elections in compliance with the Republic Act No. 9369, also known as Amended Computerization Act of 2007. It will be the first national computerized election in the history of the Philippines.
Local elections are also to be held in all provinces, cities and municipalities.
There are currently more than 85,000 candidates for only 17,000 national and local positions and it is believed that the youth will have the swing vote in this election as 40% of voters are 18-35 and there are a potential 3 million first-time voters.
The presidential candidate with the most number of votes will be declared the winner. A separate election is held for the vice president; the two elected officials need not to be running mates in order to be elected.
One-half of the Senate of the Philippines will be up for election. The Philippines uses plurality-at-large voting for seats in the Senate.
All seats in the House are up for election, elections will be done for legislative districts and party-list.
All elective local positions are up; a voter may elect a mayor, vice mayor and a varying number of councilors. If the voter resides in a province, the voter may elect a governor, vice governor and board members.
Notable races include:
In a decision dated December 2, 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that appointive officials seeking positions in the elections need not resign from their posts, striking down Section 4(a) of COMELEC Resolution 8678, Section 13 of Republic Act 9369, and Section 66 of the Omnibus Election Code as unconstitutional, "for being violative of the equal protection clause and for being overbroad."
There has been a great deal of concern over the capability of Comelec to oversee a fully automated election process, especially since the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) system has never been fully piloted in the Philippines and a breakdown could lead to a failed election.
Prior to the end of the filing of certificates of candidacy, the COMELEC had anticipated several areas to be named as "election hotspots".
On November 23, 2009, the entourage of the wife of Buluan, Maguindanao Esmael Mangudadatu who is running for provincial governor, including journalists, were abducted and killed in the province's Ampatuan town. Before she was killed, Mangudadatu's wife blamed provincial governor Andal Ampatuan, Jr. as the culprit. Ampatuan Jr. was later arrested. After several arms and military vehicles were seized in Ampatuans' properties and government installations, President Arroyo declared martial law in parts of the province not controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on December 4.
On December 28, 2009, a candidate for councilor died, and two incumbent officials were wounded in an ambush in Dingras, Ilocos Norte. The gunmen fired at the convoy including barangay chairwoman Joen Caniete, who was running for councilor under the Nacionalista Party; the wounded included a sitting councilor and a provincial board member.
In Sorsogon, Julio Esquivias, a Nacionalista candidate for councilor in the town of Casiguran, died due to a gunshot wound after he was shot by an unidentified gunman.
In a command conference by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and the COMELEC, 14 election "hotspots" were identified. They are Abra, Ilocos Norte, Masbate and Nueva Ecija in Luzon, Samar (Western Samar), Eastern Samar and Antique in the Visayas, and Basilan, Sulu, Maguindanao, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Sarangani, and Zamboanga Sibugay in Mindanao.
Worsening private armed violence is a serious security concern that has the capacity to undermine the 2010 elections. Even though a commission has already been formed to dismantle private armies, skeptics are unconvinced that the government can succeed in this task as it has a poor track record at dealing with the ongoing problem of internal violence.
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