Chamber:
	Senado
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	11 May 1998
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for one-half (12) of the Senate seats on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	The 1998 congressional elections were held simultaneously with voting for President and Vice-President of the Republic and more than 15,000 local government officials and councillors. Since the previous (May 1995) poll, the House of Representatives had been expanded to 260 seats (an increase of 39), with all members directly elected. Ten candidates were in the running to succeed President Fidel Ramos, elected in 1992 and constitutionally barred from being returned. The favorite in this group was the outgoing Vice-President, Mr. Joseph Estrada. His platform emphasized pursuit of the successful economic liberalization programme of Mr. Ramos and the need to fight the country’s widespread poverty. Mr. Estrada’s chief rivals were Mr. José de Venecia (House Speaker) and Mr. Alfredo Lim (Manila mayor). The campaign period was marred by isolated violent incidents which resulted in a number of deaths. As a consequence, thousands of military and police forces were deployed on polling day. Of the 121 parties registered under the party-list voting system for the House, 12 different ones ultimately shared the seats at stake. This particular category had been introduced to enable small parties as well as marginalized and under-represented sectors of society to obtain representation in the House. Instead of individual candidates, only registered organized groups such as the peasantry, youth and veterans could compete. On the other hand, the five major parties with the largest representation in the outgoing House were disqualified from doing so. Final results gave the populist Mr. Estrada an easy presidential victory with Senator Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, daughter of a former Head of State, capturing the post of Vice-President; Mr. Estrada was sworn in on 30 June. Mrs. Imelda Marcos, widow of former President Ferdinand Marcos, had withdrawn from the presidential race at the last minute. In the congressional races, the Laban ng Masang Pilipino (LAMP) - a coalition of three parties founded in 1997 - topped all other groups with 110 House and 10 Senate seats. Of the House seats, only 13 party-list representatives (out of a maximum of 52) met the threshold requirement to be proclaimed winners by the Commission on Elections, and four single-member constituency mandates remained vacant, thus making a current total of 217.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (11 May 1998): Elections results
Number of registered electors	34,163,465

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Laban ng Masang Pilipino (LAMP)	10
Lakas-National Union of Christian Democrats (NUCD)	7
Others and Independents	6

Comments:
	Plus one vacancy (Senator elected Vice President of the Republic in May 1998)

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	19
Women:	4

Distribution of seats according to age:
35 - 40 years	1
41 - 49 years	1
50 - 59 years	10
60 - 65 years	6
70 - 75 years	5
Distribution of seats according to profession:
Lawyers	8
Government officials	4
Businessmen	2
Actors	2
Engineers	2
Military	2
Mass media	2
Doctors	1