Philippine President Benigno Aquino urges candidates to join forces against Rodrigo Duterte
Firebrand front runner has unnerved political establishment with his controversial comments about law enforcement and foreign relations.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino yesterday called on the trailing presidential candidates to unite against front runner Rodrigo Duterte, in a sensational finale to one of the nation’s most divisive election campaigns.
Aquino has warned Duterte is a dictator in the making, and made the plea after polling showed the favourite had kept a huge lead ahead of Monday’s elections despite allegations he has overseen vigilante death squads and a spate of controversies over vulgar campaign speeches.
The whole point is to get even two of them to unite ... then we have more than 40 per cent
Aquino told CNN Philippines in an exclusive interview that he was trying to get the other four presidential candidates to unite to defeat Duterte, who he said was likely to get 30 per cent of the vote.
“The whole point is to get even two of them to unite ... then we have more than 40 per cent,” Aquino said.
In the Philippines, a president is elected simply by who gets the most votes. Duterte has 33 per cent support, with Senator Grace Poe next at 22 per cent and administration pick Mar Roxas at 20 per cent, according to the latest poll released yesterday.
Aquino said he had talked to Roxas, his long-time friend and fellow Liberal Party stalwart, and sent a text message to Poe to try and get them to forge an 11th-hour partnership. If one of the candidates did withdraw, they would ask Filipinos to instead vote for the other, but there are no guarantees they would do so.
Roxas gave a short speech yesterday, saying he was ready for talks with Poe.
