Photo Story: Duterte faces key election test

 

Voting is under way in the Philippines, in mid-term polls seen as a popularity test for President Rodrigo Duterte after his first three years in office.

Several of his children are standing for regional offices, including his daughter Sara who is seeking re-election as mayor of Davao.

Duterte governed the city for much of the time since the late 1980s, before becoming president in 2016.

Gaining a Senate majority would allow him to push for constitutional changes and restore the death penalty.

Some 61 million people from more than 7,000 islands are registered to vote in provincial, city and national polls.

In the photos, Filipinos fill out their ballots at an elementary school turned into a voting precinct in Quezon City, east of Manila, Philippines, 13 May 2019.

Over 61 million Filipinos are expected to cast their vote in the country’s mid-term elections, wherein over 43,000 candidates are vying for some 18,000 electoral posts including seats in the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives.

 

Photos: EPA-EFE/ROLEX DELA PENA/MARK R. CRISTINO