The 2010 Philippine presidential and vice presidential elections were held on Monday, May 10, 2010. The incumbent President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was ineligible to seek re-election as per the 1987 Constitution. Incumbent Vice-President Noli de Castro was allowed to seek re-election, though he could have possibly sought the presidency. As he didn't offer himself in any manner of candidacy at the election, his successor was determined as the 13th Vice President of the Philippines. Although most presidential candidates have running mates, the president and vice president are elected separately, and the winning candidates may be of different political parties. This election was also the first time that the Commission of Elections (COMELEC) implemented full automation of elections, pursuant to Republic Act 9369, "An Act Authorizing The Commission on Elections To Use An Automated Election System In The May 11, 1998 National or Local Elections and In Subsequent National And Local Electoral Exercises". The results of the congressional canvassing showed that Senator Benigno Aquino III of the Liberal Party won by a plurality, although he had won with the highest percentage of votes since 1986, but not enough to have the largest margin of victory, even in elections held after 1986. Meanwhile, in the election for the vice-presidency, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) defeated Senator Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party in the third-narrowest margin in the history of vice presidential elections. Aquino and Binay were proclaimed in a joint session of Congress on June 9, and took their oaths on June 30, 2010. Roxas filed an electoral protest to the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET; the Supreme Court) on July 10, 2010.

Electoral system

The election is held every six years after 1992, on the second Monday of May. The incumbent president is term limited. The incumbent vice president may run for two consecutive terms. As Joseph Estrada, who was elected in 1998, was able to run in 2010, it is undetermined if the term limit is for life, or is only limited to the incumbent. The plurality voting system is used to determine the winner: the candidate with the highest number of votes, whether or not one has a majority, wins the presidency. The vice presidential election is a separate election, is held on the same rules, and voters may split their ticket. Both winners will serve six-year terms commencing on the noon of June 30, 2010, and ending on the same day six years later. The candidates are determined via political conventions of the different political parties. As most political parties in the Philippines are loosely structured, with most politicians switching parties from time to time, a person not nominated by a party may either run as an independent, get drafted by another party, or form their own party. The candidacy process is supervised by the Commission on Elections (usually referred by its abbreviation "COMELEC") which also regulates and holds the elections. It is not uncommon for the commission to disqualify certain candidates as "nuisance candidates" or those candidates who have no capacity to mount a nationwide campaign. This usually limits the candidates to a small number. The campaign will run for three months, beginning in early February 2010 and ending on the eve of the election. The counting of votes is initially held in the individual voting precincts, which are all then tabulated for the different municipalities and cities, then to the provinces, and finally to Congress, which is the final canvasser of the votes. Election protests are handled by the Supreme Court, when it sits as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

Timeline

The COMELEC-mandated election period for this election was from January 10 to June 9

2008

2009

2010

Election period

Post-election period

Candidates

In the Philippines, the multi-party system is implemented. Sometimes a coalition of different parties are made. Notable this year is the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino–PDP–Laban and Nacionalista Party–NPC coalitions. Each party hosts candidates who go through a process to determine the presidential nominee for that party. The Commission on Elections released its list of 16 approved candidates for president and vice-president on December 15. One disqualified candidate, Perlas, was reinstated. This is arranged by the presidential candidates' surname.

Opinion polls

The Philippines has two primary opinion polling companies: Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia.

For president

Plotted as a 3-period moving average of the surveys.

For vice president

Plotted as a 3-period moving average of the surveys.

Exit poll

SWS conducted an exit poll. SWS's 2004 exit poll missed by a large margin the result. According to the SWS exit poll, 45% of Muslims voted for Binay, while only 17% chose Roxas and 28% for Legarda. About 75% of the members of the Iglesia ni Cristo voted for Roxas. Despite having the endorsement of several Catholic bishops, de los Reyes only got 0.2% of the Catholic vote, while Aquino, despite being branded by some Catholic organizations as not pro-life, got 44%.

President

Vice President

Results

The candidate in each position with the highest number of votes is declared the winner; there is no runoff. Congress shall canvass the votes in joint public session. When there are two or more candidates who have the highest and an equal number of votes, Congress, voting separately via majority vote will choose from these candidates, who have the highest and equal number of votes, who is to be the president. The Supreme Court shall "be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of the President or Vice President". There are several parallel tallies, with the congressional canvass the official tally. The COMELEC used the election returns from the polling precincts; the Congress as the national board of canvassers will base their official tally from the certificates of canvass from the provinces and cities, which were derived from the election returns. The accredited citizen's arm, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) also used the election returns from the polling precincts. In theory, all tallies must be identical.

For president

Congress in joint session as the National Board of Canvassers convened in the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City, the home of the House of Representatives. Only a committee canvassed the votes, with the same number of members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives. On June 8, Congress finished canvassing all of the votes, with the final canvass showing that Aquino and Binay had won. Aquino and Binay were proclaimed as president-elect and vice president-elect in a joint session on June 9. The president-elect and vice president-elect were inaugurated on June 30, 2010. Aquino, son of the 11th president Corazon Aquino, became the second child of a former president to become president themselves after his immediate predecessor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whose father was the 9th president Diosdado Macapagal. In case a president has not been determined by June 30, the vice president-elect shall act as president until a president has been determined. If both positions have not yet been determined, the President of the Senate, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives if the former is unable to do so, shall act as president. Congress shall enact a law on who acts as president if neither of the officials already stated are unable to do so.

By region

For vice president

The candidate with the highest number of votes wins the vice presidency. In case when two or more candidates have the highest number of votes, one of them shall be chosen by the vote of a majority of all the members of both Houses of the Congress, voting separately.

By region

Close provinces/cities

Margin of victory is less than 5% for the presidential election: Margin of victory is less than 5% for the vice presidential election:

Unofficial tallies

COMELEC

The COMELEC originally released results for president and vice president based from election returns but stopped in order not to preempt Congress. The COMELEC held their tally at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay.

PPCRV

The PPCRV held their tally at the Pope Pius Center in Manila.

Voter demographics

President

Source: Exit polls conducted by Pulse Asia

Vice President

Source: Exit polls conducted by Pulse Asia

Campaign expenses

According to the Fair Elections Act, the COMELEC's cap on spending is 10 pesos per voter for each candidate and another 5 pesos per voter for one's political party; since there are about 50 million voters, a candidate can spend up to 500 million pesos and a party can spend an additional 250 million pesos. The following is a list of published campaign expenses; the COMELEC has no ability to confirm if these were true.

Literature