Who's in the lead

The Philippines practises direct voting in general elections, and the candidate who secured the biggest amount of votes wins.

Several surveys showed that Aquino III was in the lead, followed by Villar and Estrada, with the latter two candidates having similar support rates.

According to a survey conducted nationwide by Pulse Asia from April 23 to 25, Aquino III enjoyed a support rate of 39 percent, while Villar and Estrada were respectively supported by 20 percent of the respondents, and the fourth candidate, former Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr. from Lakas Kampi CMD, the ruling party, got 7 percent. None of the other candidates got a support rate higher than 3 percent.

39 percent was the highest that Aquino III secured since the campaign started on Feb. 9.

In another survey conducted by Social Weather Stations from April 16 to 19, Aquino III enjoyed a support rate of 38 percent, 12 percent higher than Villar. The third was Estrada, with 17 percent support rate, followed by Teodoro with a support rate of 9 percent. None of the other candidates had a support rate higher than 2 percent.

Based on this survey, local newspaper the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that assuming a voter turnout of 77 percent, the turnout in the 2004 presidential election, Aquino III would have won by some 4.7 million votes over Villar had the presidential election been held in the third week of April.

In a news briefing on April 30, the Liberal Party proclaimed that without massive frauds in the upcoming presidential election, Aquino III will be the winner.