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12 (of the 24) seats to the Senate of the Philippines 13 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||
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 Results of the election per coalition per province and independent city with a legislative district by its own right showing the composition of the top twelve candidates. The first number refers to the number of Team PNoy candidates that made it to the top 12, then by UNA candidates, then by other candidates. Note that winners are not determined by province or city but by the nationwide count. | ||||||||||||||||
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 Philippines portal |
The 2013 election of members to the Senate of the Philippines was the 31st election to the Senate of the Philippines. It was held on Monday, May 13, 2013, to elect 12 of the 24 seats in the Senate. The winners in this election joined the winners of the 2010 election to form the 16th Congress of the Philippines. The senators elected in 2010 will serve until June 30, 2016, while the senators elected in this election will serve up to June 30, 2019. The elections to the House of Representatives as well as local elections occurred on the same date. The Philippines use plurality-at-large voting for seats in the Senate: the twelve candidates with the highest number of votes win the twelve seats up for election. The Senate seat vacated by President Benigno Aquino III in 2010 was among the twelve seats to be put for election.
While the Philippines is a multi-party democracy since 1987, parties have not been able to complete a 12-candidate slate. This means parties have to form coalitions in order to complete a slate, this lessens the number of slates the voters have to choose for. In this election, the two coalitions that completed 12-candidate slates are Team PNoy led by the President Benigno Aquino III's Liberal Party, and the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of former president Joseph Estrada's Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino and Vice President Jejomar Binay's Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan; the two slates used to share three common candidates, until they were dropped by UNA.
Team PNoy banked on Aquino's popularity and was leading 9−3 in the surveys, with Loren Legarda emerged topping the Senate election for a record-tying third time. However, on the final weeks of the campaign, Legarda was accused of hiding assets abroad, a charge she vehemently denied. On election night, former Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chairperson Grace Poe, daughter of defeated 2004 presidential candidate Fernando Poe, Jr., emerged as the frontrunner. Poe, Legarda, and four others were proclaimed on May 16, and further proclamations were held until May 18. Team PNoy did win nine seats against UNA's three, with both coalitions winning at the expense of retiring or term-limited senators who were not members of either coalition. Team PNoy campaign manager and senator Franklin Drilon was elected Senate President upon the convening of the 16th Congress of the Philippines on late July, after emerging as the frontrunner in the Senate Presidency, at the expense of incumbent Juan Ponce Enrile of UNA.