How a strong showing for Rodrigo Duterte in Philippine midterms could clear path for death penalty to return
- The death penalty has a complicated past in the Philippines, having been outlawed in 1987, reinstated six years later and then abolished again in 2006
- An expert on Philippine elections said it’s “likely that some of the president’s ideas will get through”.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to strengthen his grip on power in midterm polls next week, experts say, clearing a possible path to restoring the death penalty and advancing his pledge to rewrite the constitution.
Duterte has found international infamy for his foul-mouthed tirades, but remains hugely popular among Filipinos fed up with the country’s dysfunction and elite politicians.
He has pledged to bring back capital punishment for drug-related crimes as part of a deadly crackdown on narcotics in which thousands of alleged pushers and users have already been killed.
Duterte’s tough-on-crime platform – which also includes lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 12 – was key to his landslide election victory in 2016.
Among the 18,000 posts up for grabs on Monday are half of the seats in the upper house Senate, which has stopped cold some of Duterte’s most controversial policy initiatives.
Opinion polls suggest administration loyalists are strong favourites to capture the Senate and keep control of the lower House of Representatives.