In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

In the lead up to the Philippine midterm elections on May 13, the Philippine National Police (PNP) identified 15 provinces as priority areas where there was a risk of election violence. These areas have a history of intense political contestations…

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Late last month, gunmen opened fire on a mayor of a town campaigning for local elections, killing 12 people including his daughter, in what has been the bloodiest attack ever in the Philippines ahead of midterm elections which are scheduled for May 13. Local officials declared the attack to have been motivated by rido…

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Four months from now, the Philippines will once again be in the spotlight as citizens exercise their right to suffrage in congressional and local elections. It is because of this right that people and the institutions of the government must ensure that an enabling environment is provided for an effective electoral process.

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In the Philippines on June 3, special elections were held in seven towns in the southern Lanao del Sur province, and in some other areas predominately in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The regularly scheduled national elections, held on May 10, had been declared as “failed” in these towns. As noted during the [...]

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On election day in the Philippines, The Commission on Elections declared a poll failure in several towns in Lanao del Sur, among them the municipality of Bayang, where a peace covenant signing among local candidates took place in February 2010 to pledge support for the conduct of honest and peaceful elections in the area. While [...]

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When the Spanish-American War in the Philippines ended in 1898, the Americans attempted to subjugate the southern territories of the Muslims (“Moros” – so called since the Spanish had likened them to the Muslims they had fought on the Iberian peninsula), who had remained unconquered during the 377 years of Spanish colonization. True to form, [...]

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