Elections in the Philippines

The Senate has 24 members who are elected on a nationwide at-large basis; they do not represent any geographical district.

Under the Constitution, elections for the members of Congress and local positions (except barangay officials) occur every second Monday of every third year after May 1992, and presidential and vice presidential elections occur every second Monday of May every sixth year after May 1992.

There were a few attempts to nationally elect local officials during the Spanish colonial period.

[2] The Filipinos gathered at the plaza of the St. Augustine Church after the Holy Mass, and thereafter the officials were selected based on the qualifications for voters set by the Americans.

In 1945, the Americans defeated the Japanese, President Jose P. Laurel declared the dissolution of the Second Republic, and the Commonwealth was reestablished.

A special "snap" presidential election was held in 1986, with Marcos being declared as the winner.

As with their adult counterparts, the COMELEC has a registration period a few months prior to the election.

They are eligible to vote for national positions only (president, vice-president, senators and party-list representatives).

Prior to the general election in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on August 11, 2008, voters have to write the names of the candidates next to the positions in which they are running.

Once all the ballots are counted, the election returns will now be sent to the city or municipal Board of Canvassers, political parties and other groups.

If the city or municipal Board of Canvassers' jurisdiction is an independent city with its own congressional district, they will send their SOV and COC to the national Board of Canvassers (the COMELEC for senate and party-list elections, Congress for presidential and vice presidential elections).

Since the 2008 Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao general election, the voters have to shade the oval that was indicated before the candidate's name, and a voting machine manufactured by Smartmatic automatically counts each ballot as it is fed into it.

The results are then printed as the election return and sent electronically to the city or municipal Board of Canvassers.

In 2016, for the third time in a row, the Philippines automated their elections using electronic vote counting machines.

Brazil and India, countries which also use technology to process their votes, employ e-voting instead of an automated count.

On February 22, 2024, the Comelec En banc held that the Miru Systems Co Ltd, Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation, and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies, Inc. (MIRU-ICS-STCC-CPSTI) is the "Single Calculated and Responsive Bid" with a bid offer of PHP17,988,878,226.55.

Elections for the positions in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), starting from 2011, are held every three years during the second Monday of May.

This same Section (4) in the Article (VII) indicates when elections are done: during the "second Monday of May" and their public service begins at noontime of the "thirtieth day of June... and shall end on the same date, six years thereafter.

The first presidential election in the current constitution was on June 30, 1992 where Fidel Ramos defeated six other candidates.

A party-list organization is limited to representing marginalized sectors of society such as youth, laborers, women, and the like.

Since only a few parties surpassed the 2% election threshold, the number of party-list representatives was always less than 20% of the House's membership.

One-half of the membership (40) will be elected via the party-list system, and not more than 40% of the seats (32) are via single-member parliamentary districts.

The barangay and SK chairmen, and the city and municipal councilors have a series of indirect elections among themselves to determine their representatives of the local legislature immediately above their level.

In some cases, if a politician is not chosen to be a candidate, he can join another party (such as Ferdinand Marcos, a Liberal, jumped ship to the Nacionalistas in 1965 when the Liberals picked incumbent Diosdado Macapagal as their presidential candidate), or create their own party (such as Fidel Ramos, when he created Lakas ng Tao (now Lakas Kampi CMD) after the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino chose Ramon Mitra as their presidential candidate in 1992).

Any amendments or revision to the constitution, merging, creation and abolition of local government units and autonomous regions and the like are validated via plebiscites.

The terms "referendum" and "plebiscite" mean different things in the context of Philippine political discourse: A referendum is passed if it is approved by a majority of the votes cast; a defeat means the law sought to be rejected or amended remains to be in full effect.

[12] However, the Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the law was "fatally defective" as far as amending the constitution is concerned.

[13] People's Initiative can also be used to propose new laws are allowed if there is a petition of at least 10% of all registered voters in the country, with at least 3% in every legislative district.

A people's initiative in the national level has never made it past the stage verification of signatures.

[15] Along with the mass media, the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV),[16][17] and Kontra Daya are groups that work as watchdogs during elections in the Philippines.