(Bloomberg) -- Philippine voters will cast their ballots Monday in a presidential election that could see the only son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos take the highest seat of power more than three decades after his father was ousted. 

Marcos Jr. has led opinion surveys by double-digits ahead of election day, helped by a barrage of online propaganda painting the tough martial law years under the older Marcos as a golden era and alliances with powerful political clans. President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, is Marcos Jr.’s running mate for the vice presidency.

The 64-year-old former senator up against Vice President Leni Robredo, whose two million volunteers have gone house-to-house to counter years of social media-driven disinformation against her. She’s carried some of the biggest pre-election rallies in decades as she looks to pull off an upset. 

Whoever gets sworn in on June 30 will have to reboot an economy weighed by high unemployment and poverty as well as tackle soaring government debt and infrastructure backlogs. The new president will need to navigate a South China Sea territorial dispute with Beijing and take a position on ties with the U.S. that were frayed during Duterte’s administration over a military deal.  

 

Key stories and developments: 

  • Top Philippine Candidates Wrap Up Campaigns Drawing Huge Crowds
  • Billions at Stake for Marcos Jr. in Vote Over Dictator’s Legacy
  • Crowds Surge for Woman Seeking to Shock Marcos in Philippines

All times Philippine Standard Time:

Voting Set to Start Early on Monday (6 a.m.)

Polling stations are expected to open at 6 a.m. across the Southeast Asian country, although there are concerns of delays with malfunctioning vote counting machines and potential power outages. 

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said church bells will be rung at the same time for ten minutes to mark the start of the vote. Vaccination sites will also be opened near the polling centers to make it easier for citizens to get their jabs.

Voting ends at 7 p.m. and results should start coming in as soon as polling stations close. Over 60% of the population are eligible to vote for 18,000 positions, from president to town councilor. 

Ruling on Marcos Jr. Disqualification Cases Set a Day After Polls (5:18 p.m.)

The Commission on Elections will issue its decision on four disqualification cases filed against Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. a day after the May 9 elections, the Philippine Star newspaper reported.

Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan said the commission had to wait till Tuesday as it can’t release the decision on weekends and holidays. President Rodrigo Duterte had declared Monday as a special holiday in the Philippines. 

All the petitions were on Marcos Jr.’s failure to file tax returns. 

Read more: Marcos Jr.’s Path to Philippine Presidency Muddied by Lawsuits

Philippines ‘Relatively Peaceful’ Before Polls, Police Say (2:54 p.m.)

The Philippines is “relatively peaceful” ahead of the May 9 polls, Philippine National Police Spokesperson Jean Fajardo said in a briefing on Sunday. There were 16 election-related violent incidents, less than in 2016 and 2019.

On Saturday, four people were killed and several more injured following a shooting incident between supporters of rival mayoral candidates in Ilocos Sur province in the north. 

A two-day liquor ban is in place across the country starting from Sunday, the police said.

Top Philippine Candidates Wrap Up Campaigns Drawing Huge Crowds (10:34 a.m.)

Top Philippine presidential candidates wrapped up their three-month election campaign on Saturday before some of the biggest crowds in the capital in recent years, urging their supporters to turn up in force at voting centers on May 9.

Hundreds of thousands attended the final rallies of Vice President Leni Robredo and former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in numbers that their respective supporters said were a sign of victory. Organizers of both candidates claimed attendees at their events reached 1 million.

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