MANILA: Vote counting was underway in the Philippines on Monday after millions of people cast their ballots to choose a new president in an election where the son of an ousted dictator and a champion of human rights are vying for the country’s top office.

Polls opened at 6 a.m. across the archipelago country, where some 67.5 million people are eligible to vote to decide who will succeed President Rodrigo Duterte as well as more than 18,000 government posts, including mayors, governors and city councilors.

The presidential election pits Vice President Leni Robredo against former senator and congressman Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., namesake of the dictator who was overthrown in a “people power” uprising after two decades of what has been described as one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Philippines.

An unofficial vote count by the Commission on Elections showed a huge early lead for Marcos Jr., who had more than 22.4 million of the votes cast, more than double the number of his nearest rival Robredo, who had about 10.6 million votes, with more than 68 percent of the number of eligible ballots counted.

Mask-clad voters stood in line for hours long before polling stations opened, with the Philippine election day marred with broken voting machines and at least six people killed in violent incidents, according to reports.

“So overwhelmed by the number of people flocking the polling centers. This is despite the pandemic threat. Democracy is alive in our country,” elections commissioner George Garcia said early on Monday.

Military spokesman Col. Ramon Zagala said in a press briefing that more than a dozen election-related violent incidents, including ballot snatching, shooting incidents and armed clashes, were recorded since Sunday evening.

“Our assessment as of now is that this election is successful … despite the 15 election-related violent incidents,” Zagala told a press briefing, adding that the number of incidents this year was lower compared to previous elections.

Incidents of malfunctioning vote counting machines, disinformation, and red-tagging were also reported on Monday, according to election watchdog Kontra Daya.

The election has been described as the Philippines’ most consequential in more than three decades. Marcos Jr.’s lead in the unofficial count closely tracks with the outcome of all opinion polls this year, which showed him with a huge advantage over Robredo.  

Marcos Jr., who had spent decades of his political career trying to rehabilitate the family’s name, has been campaigning on a national unity and optimism platform.

Robredo is a liberal human rights lawyer allied with the movement that toppled the Marcos dictatorship in 1986, and has pledged to improve education, welfare and public sector transparency.