His family epitomizes corruption in the Philippines.
And yet, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Junior, son of the former dictator of the same name, secured a landslide victory in Monday's presidential election in the archipelago, according to the initial vote tally.
Marcos Jr thus becomes the first presidential candidate to be elected with an absolute majority since the overthrow of his father in 1986.
At the beginning of the afternoon, the unsuccessful candidate for the last presidential election had already obtained more than twice as many votes as his main opponent, the current vice-president Leni Robredo, according to these results relating to almost half of the few 70,000 polling stations nationwide and published by local media citing the Electoral Commission.
At least four dead on election day
About 67 million Filipinos were called to the polls for these general elections, during which the vice-president as well as the deputies, half of the senators, the provincial governors and thousands of other local elected officials are also appointed.
During this one-round ballot, a candidate only needs to obtain more votes than his rivals to win.
Polling stations closed at 7 p.m. and the first results were expected late Monday evening or Tuesday.
As is often the case in the Philippines, where gun laws are lax and the political culture is violent, election day was marked by serious incidents.
At least four people have been killed in attacks on polling stations in two cities across the country, police say.
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“This will aggravate the human rights crisis in the country”
After six years of authoritarian rule by Rodrigo Duterte, human rights activists, Catholic Church leaders and political analysts feared that Marcos Jr would run the country even more autocratically.
“We believe this will aggravate the human rights crisis in the country,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the Karapatan human rights alliance.
A vast disinformation campaign to rehabilitate the twenty years of Marcos Senior's dictatorship, the patronage system and the disenchantment of voters with recent governments have fueled the return to grace of the Marcos.
Marcos Jr encumbered by criminal records
Supporters of her main rival, current vice-president Leni Robredo, hoped until the end to see a last-minute surprise.
The 57-year-old lawyer and economist narrowly defeated Marcos Jr in the 2016 vice-presidential race (in the Philippines, the president and vice-president are elected separately).
In particular, she promised to rid Philippine democracy of corruption, in an archipelago where a handful of families have control over the country.
Among the 10 presidential candidates were legendary boxer Manny Pacquiao and former garbage collector turned actor Francisco Domagoso.
But only Marcos Jr and Robredo were considered to have a chance of winning.
Marcos Jr's opponents have already vowed to continue efforts to have him disqualified for a previous tax offense conviction, and to make him pay billions of dollars owed in inheritance tax.
