Philippines votes in polls

AFP, 13TH MAY, 2019 - The Philippines voted in polls Monday expected to tighten President Rodrigo Duterte’s hold on power, opening a way for him to deliver on pledges to restore the death penalty and advance his effort to rewrite the constitution.

More than 18,000 positions were at stake, including half of the seats in the upper house Senate, which has served as a bulwark against some of Duterte’s most controversial policies.

Duterte is known internationally for his foul-mouthed tirades and deadly drug war, but remains hugely popular among Filipinos fed up with the country’s general dysfunction and leaders who have failed to fix it.

He wants to bring back capital punishment for drug-related crimes as part of his narcotics crackdown, in which thousands of alleged pushers and users have already been killed by police.