Academic literature on the topic 'Elections Philippines'

This paper attempts to trace, using survey evidence, the electoral behaviour of Baguio City voters during two years beginning with the 1986 Presidential election contest between Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino. The revolutionary aftermath to this election issued in a new political regime, which held a series of elections. By January 1988 there had been a plebiscite to ratify a new Constitution, Congressional and Senatorial elections, and finally local elections for the Mayor and City Council. For all of these elections, local surveys were conducted in the City of Baguio.

Abstract Post-election violence is a common form of conflict, but its underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Using data from the 2007 Philippine mayoral elections, this paper provides evidence that post-election violence is particularly intense after narrow victories by incumbents. Using a density test, the study shows that incumbents were substantially more likely to win narrow victories than their challengers, a pattern consistent with electoral manipulation. There is no evidence that the increase in post-election violence is related to the incumbents’ political platform or their performance in past elections. These results provide support for the notion that post-election violence is triggered by election fraud or by the failure of democratic ways of removing unpopular incumbents from office.

Despite election violence being a commonly agreed upon phenomena in the Philippines, there has been a dearth in academic research on the topic in recent years, largely due to a lack of reliable information. To address this, our article adapts recognized methods from studies such as Lindsay Shorr Newman's 2013 paper, together with Stephen McGrath and Paul Gill's 2014 research on terrorism and elections. To expose the timing of election violence, we tracked incidents relative to election dates for the period from 2004 to 2017, with the results indicating that violence increased closer to an election date, and frequency substantially increased during the 14-year period. This is the first academic journal article since John Linantud in 1998 to focus on the issue of election violence in the Philippines but through adaptive methodologies goes further, enabling national analysis. Furthermore, our findings reveal statistically significant differences regarding the types of terrorist attacks and targets when comparing election and non-election periods. We highlight complicating factors such as the majority of attacks being attributed to "unknown" actors and the complex situation during elections. The results also demonstrate that election violence in the Philippines is dominated by the New People's Army and the use of assassination. The paper makes the case for further research and the creation of a dedicated database of election violence in the Philippines and elsewhere, and evaluates the measures implemented by the government that have failed to stem election violence.

Other than the South China Sea (SCS) disputes, the Philippines in 2015 faced the same conditions as in 1996: keeping a sustainable peace in Mindanao, presidential elections, and a promising economy. The year was capped by the country’s hosting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. Chinese assertiveness challenged ASEAN’s unity and made closer Philippine ties to Washington and Tokyo an imperative.

Building quality democracy takes time. It requires a constant review of the performance of institutions that are tasked to deliver in concrete ways the democratic ideal. Improving democratic institutions requires sustained reform efforts. Election administration and election commissions need to be examined against this backdrop of broader democratization issues. Given the importance of election administration in the study of democratic processes, there are very few studies that focus on election administration. By focusing on a specific institution tasked to replicate the ideals of democracy such as the COMELEC, this study offers insights into a deeper understanding of autonomy, bureaucratic integrity and capacity. Though mostly overlooked, election administration plays a vital role in the study of broader democratization questions. Elections promise continuity and stability. But if election administration is done poorly due to the lack of autonomy, integrity, and capacity then it becomes an unsettling and destabilizing exercise. With democratic structures in place for years, the Philippines continues to have problems with the most basic elements of election administration: accuracy in maintaining voter lists, counting votes and adjudicating disputes. The COMELEC oversees election administration, serving as referee and gatekeeper in the Philippines’ electoral arena. The COMELEC is a constitutional commission with ostensible autonomy and power, yet it is also a bureaucracy. The May 2010 election was the first automated election in the Philippines. Widely regarded as a success, there were many issues and incidents that show it was also business as usual for COMELEC. The speed of the canvass count astounded the voting populace, and perhaps operators, but the May 2010 election continues to show embedded problems within the commission that needs to be addressed in order to strengthen the COMELEC as an institution that can provide election administration efficiently and accurately in subsequent elections.

In May 2010, national elections in the Philippines saw front-runner presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III win a landslide victory which set the stage for an orderly transition of power from the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This article argues that Aquino's victory, rather than signalling a clear departure from the old ways of doing politics or the mere reproduction of established patterns of oligarchical politics, points towards a more gradual and limited change in the mobilisation of voters in the Philippines. This change, it is further argued, reflects in part the rise of “public opinion” as a social fact in Philippine politics and society in the period since the resurrection of formal democratic institutions and regular elections. The article identifies the broad parameters of the rise in polls and surveys in the Philippines, and, drawing on the critical insights of Pierre Bourdieu, examines the nature and significance of “public opinion” itself. However, the argument advanced here is a cautionary one, indicating that, while the emergence of public opinion as a social fact alters political calculations and dynamics associated with voter mobilisation, the politics of public opinion may only have limited transformative potential for democracy in the Philippines.

The Philippines held its national elections last May 2019. During the election campaign, several religious groups organized electoral slates or supported particular political candidates. Among these groups were the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) with its Alagad Party, the Jesus is Lord (JIL) Movement with its CIBAC Party, the El Shaddai with its Buhay Party, and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which supported all of the candidates backed by the Duterte government. On the other hand, the dominant Roman Catholic Church did not support any political party or candidate as a bloc but emphasized the need for the electorate to use their conscience and vote wisely. Some Roman Catholic priests, however, openly supported the opposition Otso Diretso slate for the Senate.This paper looks at the interesting link between religion and politics in the Philippines, especially in its recent political history, i.e. from 1986 up to the present. In particular, this paper will attempt to answer the following questions: What role do the various religious groups in the Philippines play in the field of the political arena? Do Filipinos vote based on their religious affiliation?