The Philippines will elect a new president on Monday, May 9, and voting will also be held for thousands of other positions.
President Rodrigo Duterte is unable to stand for re-election under the country’s rules, which limit presidents to a single six-year term.
More than 67 million Filipinos are eligible to vote, including about 1.7 million who live overseas, in the Middle East and elsewhere.
As polling day begins, here is all you need to know.
When are the Philippines elections?
Polling stations will be open from 6am to 7pm local time on Monday, May 9.
Voting for registered overseas Filipinos opened on April 10.
When will we know the result?
Vote counting starts immediately after polls close.
A live, unofficial count could give an indication of who has won the presidency within hours, Reuters said.
The election commission is aiming to announce the complete results by the end of May.
The winner must be inaugurated as president within seven weeks of results being announced.
Who is the favourite to become the next president?
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, also known as “Bongbong”, is currently leading the race.
Polls indicate Mr Marcos Jr is on track to secure an absolute majority with more than half the vote.
He is the son of former president Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled from 1965 to 1986. Marcos Sr ruled under martial law from 1972 to 1981 and was widely considered a dictator.
On Monday, Mr Marcos Jr cast his vote with his mother, Imelda Marcos, who became notorious during and after the Marcos era for misusing billions of dollars' worth of public funds.
She was convicted by a court in the Philippines in 1993 and spent some time in exile in Hawaii with her family. In 1990, the Supreme Court of Switzerland ruled that funds deposited in Swiss bank accounts by Ms Marcos were of “criminal provenance.”
But this controversial history of the Marcos clan has not tarnished Mr Marcos Jr's campaign.
He is running on a platform of “unity” and has promised more jobs and greater security, though rights groups have voiced fears he could rule “without constraint”.
He is also allied to Sara Duterte-Carpio, the daughter of the departing president. She is running for vice president.
Who are Marcos Jr’s closest rivals?
Mr Marcos Jr’s closest challenger in the polls is Leni Robredo, the departing vice president.
Ms Robredo, who defeated Mr Marcos Jr in the 2016 vice presidential race, has been a fierce critic of both him and Mr Duterte.
Her campaign has promised transparency and economic reforms, and has been characterised by huge rallies of supporters dressed in pink, the chosen colour of her “pink revolution”.
Recent polling put her 33 percentage points behind Mr Marcos Jr.
Other challengers include the Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso, and the international boxing star Manny Pacquiao, though both are trailing Mr Marcos Jr and Ms Robredo in the polls.
Who are the other candidates?
While ten candidates filed to compete for president, the race has come down to a few main contenders — high profile figures such as Manny Pacquiao, a former boxer, are unlikely to make significant headway, while another prominent figure, Senator Ping Lacson — who has made several runs for the president role in the past, are trailing far behind.
Who is running for vice president?
Unlike in the US, the Philippines elects vice presidents separately, though the vote is held on the same day.
Sara Duterte-Caprio is the current front-runner for the vice presidency. She is the daughter of the departing president and allied with Mr Marcos Jr.
Her main challengers are Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Leni Robredo’s running mate, Senator Francis Pangilinan.
According to the country's 1987 constitution, the vice president is “mandated to assume the presidency in case of the death, disability, or resignation of the incumbent president," although the vice president can also take the role of a cabinet minister.
Are political parties important?
Political parties are generally considered less important than personal loyalties in the Philippines.
Most candidates gain their support from personal appeal rather than a party base, and it is common for members of parliament to ally with whoever becomes president.
Can Filipinos overseas vote and how significant is their vote?
The Philippines has a large diaspora population across the world. There were 2.5 million Filipinos registered as living abroad in 2019, figures compiled by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas show.
These Filipino citizens are eligible to vote from their host countries.
About 1.7 million overseas Filipinos are registered to vote in 2022 out of the country's 67 million voters.
The country with the most registered voters is the UAE, with 290,182, followed by Saudi Arabia and the US.
More women than men are registered to vote overseas.
With inputs from Pulse Asia.
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
UAE tour of the Netherlands
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Fixtures:
Monday, 1st 50-over match
Wednesday, 2nd 50-over match
Thursday, 3rd 50-over match
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: nine-speed
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh848,000
On sale: now
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THREE
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MADAME%20WEB
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Poacher
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERichie%20Mehta%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nimisha%20Sajayan%2C%20Roshan%20Mathew%2C%20Dibyendu%20Bhattacharya%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
if you go
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Brief scores:
Toss: Rajputs, elected to field first
Sindhis 94-6 (10 ov)
Watson 42; Munaf 3-20
Rajputs 96-0 (4 ov)
Shahzad 74 not out
Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.
Stat of the day – 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.
The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227-4 at the close.
The Lowdown
Kesari
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Anubhav Singh
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra
Mica
Director: Ismael Ferroukhi
Stars: Zakaria Inan, Sabrina Ouazani
3 stars
Palestine and Israel - live updates
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
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%3Cp%3EThe%20influx%20of%20talented%20young%20Afghan%20players%20to%20UAE%20cricket%20could%20have%20a%20big%20impact%20on%20the%20fortunes%20of%20both%20countries.%20Here%20are%20three%20Emirates-based%20players%20to%20watch%20out%20for.%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EHassan%20Khan%20Eisakhil%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMohammed%20Nabi%20is%20still%20proving%20his%20worth%20at%20the%20top%20level%20but%20there%20is%20another%20reason%20he%20is%20raging%20against%20the%20idea%20of%20retirement.%20If%20the%20allrounder%20hangs%20on%20a%20little%20bit%20longer%2C%20he%20might%20be%20able%20to%20play%20in%20the%20same%20team%20as%20his%20son%2C%20Hassan%20Khan.%20The%20family%20live%20in%20Ajman%20and%20train%20in%20Sharjah.%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMasood%20Gurbaz%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EThe%20opening%20batter%2C%20who%20trains%20at%20Sharjah%20Cricket%20Academy%2C%20is%20another%20player%20who%20is%20a%20part%20of%20a%20famous%20family.%20His%20brother%2C%20Rahmanullah%2C%20was%20an%20IPL%20winner%20with%20Kolkata%20Knight%20Riders%2C%20and%20opens%20the%20batting%20with%20distinction%20for%20Afghanistan.%0D%3Cbr%3E%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOmid%20Rahman%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EThe%20fast%20bowler%20became%20a%20pioneer%20earlier%20this%20year%20when%20he%20became%20the%20first%20Afghan%20to%20represent%20the%20UAE.%20He%20showed%20great%20promise%20in%20doing%20so%2C%20too%2C%20playing%20a%20key%20role%20in%20the%20senior%20team%E2%80%99s%20qualification%20for%20the%20Asia%20Cup%20in%20Muscat%20recently.%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Match info
Manchester United 4
(Pogba 5', 33', Rashford 45', Lukaku 72')
Bournemouth 1
(Ake 45 2')
Red card: Eric Bailly (Manchester United)
