Duterte still leading in Philippine presidential election with 82% votes counted

More than 82 percent of the votes have already been counted and Davao city mayor Rodrigo Duterte is still leading the Philippine presidential election, according to an unofficial and partial tally of votes cast early Tuesday morning.

Duterte had 14,296,434 votes, leaving the second most supported candidate Manual Roxas far behind with 8,548,464 votes, the statistics from partial and unofficial Comelec Transparency server showed.

Grace Poe, ranking the third in vote counting, has conceded to Duterte earlier in a press conference held in Quezon city, Manila.

Five candidates contested in the election for the presidency to succeed Benigno Aquino III, whose six-year term ends on June 30.

Rodrigo Duterte, mayor of the south Philippine city of Davao, has been leading most of the opinion polls since April.

Some 33 percent of the voters said they would vote for Duterte in the final pre-election survey conducted by Social Weather Station. The country's renowned polling body carried out the survey from May 1 to 3 through face-to-face interviews with 4,500 validated voters nationwide with a sampling error margin of 1 point.

The 71-year-old mayor is known to have made Davao one of the safest cities in the Philippines through tough regulations and iron-fist approach in crime fighting.

During the presidential campaign period, he vowed to wipe out corruption, drugs and criminality in three to six months if he wins the election.

His aggressive behavior and offensive language won him a lot of supporters, but aroused concerns and controversy as well.

Candidate Grace Poe held a press conference in Quezon city, Manila at around 00:05 a.m. Tuesday, conceding to her opponent Rodrigo Duterte.

Expressed her gratitude to her supporters, Poe said that she and her team had never lost faith.

The female candidate said she had tried her best during the campaign period.

Poe also said she would serve as senator for three more years, fighting for rule of law and democracy as she always did.

Source: XINHUA