Pimentel, who ran for re-election for his senate seat in 2019, has struggled to be in the winning circle, while Alvarez managed to eke out a victory against his local competitor. In fact, he did not lift a finger to prevent the ouster of his two closest political lieutenants in Congress- Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III as Senate President and Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez as House Speaker. The absence of an incumbent vying for re-election, coupled with weak party loyalties, serve as incentives for potential presidential aspirants to launch new parties and entice legislative candidates to switch parties with the promise of access to patronage.īut unlike previous Philippine presidents, Duterte has not personally endeavoured to consolidate his political support under his dominant party through the systematic mobilisation of patronage. Meanwhile, the former dominant Liberal Party (LP) has been decimated, with most of its members jumping to the administration parties.Īccording to the “presidential bandwagon framework”, the introduction of a single term limit for the office of the Philippine presidency destabilised the legislative party system, since legislative candidates now tended to affiliate themselves with the most viable presidential candidates by switching parties.

However, PDP-Laban recently suffered a major setback as most of its members have again switched affiliation to the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), the regional party established by incumbent Davao City mayor and the president’s daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio. The Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), the moribund political party that supported Duterte’s presidential candidacy in 2016, ballooned from a party of three elected members to more than 300 as political turncoats switched party affiliations after Duterte’s victory. This is comparable to or higher than Brazil, where party switching is also rampant. An average of 33% of congressmen switched parties between 1987 to 2016 of this number, 32% usually affiliate with the president’s party. Party-switching has become an institutionalised aspect of the Philippine political system. Political dynasties, which have dominated many of the country’s electoral districts, switch from one dominant presidential party to another in search of patronage. The recent election results follow the historical patterns of midterm elections in the post-1986 period. Initial election results point to a victory for the administration’s nine senatorial candidates (out of 12 seats) and a majority of its governors, mayors, and local legislators.

The elections tested and consolidated Duterte’s political strength as the country’s populist strongman president: most of the national and local candidates endorsed by Duterte won their contests for the 18,066 national and local positions up for grabs. The 13 May midterms, the fourth since the restoration of electoral democracy in 1986, were generally regarded as a referendum on the first three years of the Duterte presidency. The biggest winner in the 2019 midterm elections in the Philippines was not even a candidate-it was President Rodrigo R.

Midterm election definition