Philippines Holds ‘Generally Peaceful’ Local Community Elections

Villages across the Philippines have conducted the election of their community and youth councils on Monday (October 30), which election officials say has been generally peaceful.

People flocked schools across the archipelago to elect a set of councilors for their local communities - which Filipinos call "barangay," based on the ancient Austronesian boat called "balangay" - as well as their youth counterparts from 07:00 to 15:00, local time (23:00 October 29 to 07:00 UTC), with priority voting for senior citizens, disabled persons, and pregnant mothers starting two hours prior in selected areas.

Philippines Holds Local Community Elections

(Photo: TED ALJIBE/AFP via Getty Images) A woman votes during the nationwide village and youth representative elections at a polling station in Manila on October 30, 2023. Security forces were on high alert across the Philippines on October 30 as millions of people voted for village leaders following months of deadly poll-related violence.

Pilot Automation, Mall Voting

Unlike general elections in the country, which have been automated since 2008, local community elections are counted manually. However, automated vote counting and the use of malls as voting centers were piloted in some communities, SunStar reported.

Garcia added that the glitches were experienced in areas where automated vote counting was expected since the machines used for the task were already old.

Election 'Generally Peaceful,' Filipino Authorities Say

Speaking to local media, Philippine Commission on Elections (Comelec) chief George Garcia said the outcome of the elections was "generally peaceful" with a 70% to 75% total voter turnout despite several violent incidents, most of which happened in the Muslim-majority Bangsamoro region.

"Although there were a few incidents of violence that happened especially in Bangsamoro ... you have not heard of any problems," he said. "But overall, they were not able to stop our countrymen from voting."

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) also said 868 of its personnel have been tapped in the Bangsamoro and Cordillera regions to facilitate the voting process as per Comelec's request.

"As of now, despite these incidents of shooting, burning ... the elections went through across the country, and vote counting has already begun [in some areas]," PNP Chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. said, adding that the number of validated election-related incidents as of Monday has increased to 35, with suspected cases tallying at 191.