Ferdinand Marcos Jr. leads in Philippines presidential polls

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - As the election officials race to count the votes polled during the day, the preliminary results of the Philippines presidential elections showed that Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has a massive lead over his nine opponents, according to local media on Monday.

According to an unofficial count of over 53% of the votes, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. polled at least 20,084,651 votes, much ahead of his nearest rival Leni Robredo, who is also the current vice president of the archipelago country, the daily Phil Star said.

Robredo had polled 9,492,702 votes as of 9.02 p.m. (1302GMT), it added.

A record 67 million Filipinos are registered to vote in the general elections where Filipinos are also electing legislators, senators, and local administrators, along with the president and the vice president.

The voting began at around 6 a.m. local time (2200GMT Sunday) and ended at 7 p.m. (1100GMT), while ballot counting started soon after the boxes closed.

The six-year term of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte is also set to come to an end.