Philippine presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is almost certain to win by a landslide, after 98% of the valid votes were counted in an unofficial count with nearly 31 million votes, nearly double that of his rival Leni Robredos.
In his first statement after the announcement of that result, Marcos called on everyone to judge him on his actions, not on the legacy of his predecessors, and said he looked forward to cooperating with home and abroad, including partners and organizations.
It is expected that the official results will be announced near the end of May.
The Marcos family came to power 36 years after the popular revolution that ousted his father.
With the victory of Marcos, who is known as "Pongbong", he becomes the first candidate in the country's modern history to win an absolute majority in the presidential election.
Marcus Jr. fled into exile in Hawaii, USA, with his family during the "people power" uprising that ended his father's 20 years of oppressive and corrupt rule.
The family was allowed to return to the Philippines in 1992, three years after the death of his father, and since then it has become an influential force in politics, and has retained its influence, enormous wealth and extensive relationships.
Marcos Jr. served as a provincial governor, a member of Congress and a senator, and his sister, Amy, is currently a senator, and his mother, Imelda, served as a member of the House of Representatives for 4 terms.
And with the emergence of these results, many of the millions who voted to challenge Robredo expressed their anger over what they see as "a shameless attempt by the reprehensible dictator's family to use its power of social media to change the historical facts during its rule of the country."
It is noteworthy that thousands of opponents of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. suffered persecution during the period of martial law between 1972 and 1981, and the family name became synonymous with plunder and a lavish life with the disappearance of billions of dollars in national wealth.
The Marcos family has denied wrongdoing, and many of its supporters - bloggers and influencers on social media - say the historical accounts are distorted.
In a related context, about 400 people - most of them students - organized a protest outside the Electoral Commission on Tuesday against Marcos, pointing out that electoral irregularities occurred during the voting process, which the Electoral Commission denies and confirms that the voting was relatively peaceful.
The commission also maintained its rejection of complaints by various groups - including a group of victims of martial law - that sought to prevent Marcos Jr. from running in the presidential elections on the basis of a 1995 conviction of tax evasion.
The results also showed that Sarah Duterte Carpio - who is the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte - won the position of Vice President;
She had made an alliance with Marcos Jr before the elections.