Philippines election nears close in historic vote for president

Top contenders in Monday’s vote are Ferdinand Marcos Jr, son of the Philippines’ late dictator, and the current Vice President Leni Robredo

Millions of Filipinos voted on Monday to choose a new president in an election pitting the son of the Philippines’ late strongman against a liberal human rights lawyer, Qazet.az reports.

Polls opened across the Southeast Asian nation at 6am on Monday (22:00 GMT on Sunday), with a record-breaking 67 million people registered to cast their ballots. There will be no second round.

Elections Commissioner George Garcia told reporters early Monday that he expected a huge turnout.

“It’s a historic election, a very memorable one, simply because we’d be electing, at least in a pandemic situation, a new president and that’s why we’re expecting a high turnout of voters,” he said before the polls opened.