Millions vote in Philippine elections crucial to Duterte
Filipinos headed to the polls yesterday in a vote that is expected to strengthen President Rodrigo Duterte’s grip on power, opening the way for him to deliver on pledges to restore the death penalty and rewrite the constitution. More than 18,000 positions are at stake, including half of the seats in the upper house Senate, which has served as a bulwark against some of Duterte’s most controversial policies. Duterte is known internationally for his foul-mouthed tirades and deadly drug war, but remains hugely popular among Filipinos fed up with the country’s general dysfunction and leaders who have failed to fix it. He wants to bring back capital punishment for drug-related crimes as part of his narcotics crackdown, in which thousands of alleged pushers and users have already been killed by police. His tough-on-crime platform -- which also includes lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 12 -- was key to his landslide election victory in 2016.
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