2007 Philippine House of Representatives elections explained

Election Name:2007 Philippine House of Representatives elections
Country:Philippines
Type:parliamentary
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2004
Next Election:2010
Seats For Election:All 270 seats in the House of Representatives
Majority Seats:136
Election Date:May 14, 2007
Module:
Embed:yes
Election Name:Congressional district elections
Seats For Election:All 218 seats from congressional districts
Noleader:yes
Nopercentage:yes
Party1:Lakas–CMD (1991)
Last Election1:92
Seats1:89
Party2:Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino
Last Election2:2
Seats2:44
Party3:Nationalist People's Coalition
Last Election3:53
Seats3:28
Party4:Liberal Party (Philippines)
Last Election4:29
Seats4:23
Party5:Nacionalista Party
Last Election5:2
Seats5:11
Party6:Others
Last Election6:29
Seats6:23
Module:
Embed:yes
Election Name:Party-list election
Seats For Election:All 53 seats under the party-list system
Noleader:yes
Party1:Buhay
Percentage1:7.30
Last Election1:2
Seats1:3
Party2:Bayan Muna
Percentage2:6.11
Last Election2:3
Seats2:3
Party3:CIBAC
Percentage3:4.72
Last Election3:2
Seats3:2
Party4:Gabriela Women's Party
Percentage4:3.88
Last Election4:2
Seats4:2
Party5:APEC
Percentage5:3.87
Last Election5:3
Seats5:2
Party6:A TEACHER
Percentage6:3.06
Last Election6:0
Seats6:2
Party7:Akbayan
Percentage7:2.91
Last Election7:3
Seats7:2
Party8:Alagad
Percentage8:2.64
Last Election8:1
Seats8:2
Party9:Coop-NATCCO
Percentage9:2.56
Last Election9:1
Seats9:2
Party10:Butil
Percentage10:2.55
Last Election10:2
Seats10:2
Party11:ARC
Percentage11:2.34
Last Election11:0
Seats11:2
Party12:Anakpawis
Percentage12:2.31
Last Election12:2
Seats12:2
Party13:Anak Mindanao
Percentage13:2.17
Last Election13:1
Seats13:2
Party14:Abono
Percentage14:2.12
Last Election14:0
Seats14:2
Party15:YACAP
Percentage15:2.07
Last Election15:0
Seats15:2
Party16:AGAP
Percentage16:2.05
Last Election16:0
Seats16:2
Party17:An Waray
Percentage17:2.01
Last Election17:1
Seats17:1
Party18:Others
Percentage18:22.85
Last Election18:3
Seats18:18
Map:2007PhilippineHouseElections.PNG
Map Size:280px
Speaker
Before Election:Jose de Venecia Jr.
Before Party:Lakas–CMD (1991)
After Election:Jose de Venecia Jr.
After Party:Lakas–CMD (1991)

The 2007 Philippine House of Representatives elections were held on May 14, 2007, to elect members to the House of Representatives of the Philippines to serve in the 14th Congress of the Philippines from June 30, 2007, until June 30, 2010. The Philippines uses parallel voting for seats in the House of Representatives.

The administration-led TEAM Unity maintained control of the House of Representatives although the opposition-backed Genuine Opposition won control of the Senate. Incumbent Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. of Pangasinan was elected Speaker after being the only one nominated: 186 voted for De Venecia, 1 against (Eduardo Joson) and 24 abstentions.

Electoral system

The House of Representatives shall have not more than 250 members, unless otherwise fixed by law, of which 20% shall be elected via the party-list system, while the rest are elected via congressional districts.

In this election, there are 218 seats voted via first-past-the-post in single-member districts. Each province, and a city with a population of 250,000, is guaranteed a seat, with more populous provinces and cities divided into two or more districts.

Congress has the power of redistricting three years after each census.

As there are 218 congressional districts, there shall be 53 seats available under the party-list system. A party has to cross the 2% electoral threshold to win a guaranteed seat. Next, the court ruled that the first-placed party should always have more seats than the other parties, and that the prior 2%–4%–6% method will only be used for the first-placed party. As for parties that got 2% of the vote but did not have the most votes, they will automatically have one more seat, then any extra seats will be determined via dividing their votes to the number of votes of the party with the most votes, then the quotient will be multiplied by the number of seats the party with the most votes has. The product, disregarding decimals (it is not rounded), will be the number of seats a party will get.[1]

The Supreme Court ruled the 2% electoral threshold as unconstitutional in 2009, which then allocated a new way to allocate seats.

Campaign

Genuine Opposition

The Genuine Opposition (GO) targeted to win at least 80 seats to be able to impeach President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; however the administration's TEAM Unity prevented GO in winning several of those seats by fielding in strong candidates against GO in those districts.

Lakas vs. KAMPI

The administration's two main parties, Lakas-CMD and Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (KAMPI), was seen to win majority of the seats, with most contests contested by the two parties. This inevitably produced a split in the administration ranks on who would be their candidate for Speaker in the impending victory. However, the two parties were united in supporting President Arroyo and were able to prevent any impeachment proceeding against her or her allies from reaching the Senate.

Lakas-CMD party leader and House Speaker Jose de Venecia was challenged by KAMPI's Pablo P. Garcia for the speakership in the incoming 14th Congress of the Philippines which has caused a battle between administration allies. Recently, Garcia was accused by Parañaque 1st District Rep. Eduardo Zialcita and Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante, Jr. both under the party Lakas-CMD of using Government Service Insurance System or GSIS pension funds care of Garcia's son GSIS Vice-Chairman, General Manager and President Winston Garcia to bribe congressmen of PHP 300,000 to 400,000 to support his father's speakership bid.[2]

Retiring and term limited incumbents

Lakas-CMD

Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino

Kilusang Bagong Lipunan

Laban ng Demokratikong Filipino

Liberal Party

Nacionalista Party

Nationalist People's Coalition

Results

District elections results

District representatives are allocated 80% of the seats in the House:

Party-list election result

See also: Nominees in the 2007 Philippine House of Representatives party-list election. Party-list representatives are allocated 20% of the seats in the House; however, due to the 2% threshold and the 3-seat cap rule, the 20% requirement was not met. On the 2009 BANAT vs. COMELEC decision of the Supreme Court, it declared the 2% threshold unconstitutional; instead it mandated that parties surpassing the 2% threshold automatically having seats, then allocating one seat for every party with less than 2% of the vote until the 20% allocation was met. With the formula used, this meant that the party with the highest number of votes usually gets three seats, the other parties with 2% or more of the vote winning two seats, and parties with less than 2% of the vote getting one seat.

External links

Media websites

Notes and References

  1. Web site: VFP v. COMELEC . Supreme Court of the Philippines.
  2. News: SunStar. 4 lawmakers say GSIS funds used for Garcia's speakership bid . 2010-07-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071107095003/http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/net/2007/06/10/4.lawmakers.say.gsis.funds.used.for.garcia.s.speakership.bid.html . 2007-11-07 . dead .

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