Even then, understanding is never full. And there’s hardly unanimity on how or why they happened as they did.
To the Sun.Star newspapers, these are some of the imponderables of the election:
Referendum on Glo
l How far will the number of winners in the Senate race be a gauge of people’s confidence in President Arroyo? In the race for local seats, will defeat of bets chummy with Malacañang score against her?
There’s no standard to judge from poll results public confidence in the President. A Senate shutout, which won’t be believed, is conclusive but what numbers short of 12-0 mean rejection? Besides, it’s tough for any administration to win a mid-term election decisively.
Local contests won’t help much as people vote for the leader they like, no matter who’s sitting in the Palace. Local fights are decided mostly by local issues, not by how the President solves, say, the summary killings.
Weight of advertising
l How much is too much advertising? Senate bets who have money seem to think that an overload of ads, mostly on TV and radio, assures victory.
Old-time beliefs in ward leaders’ help, rallies, team campaigning, and bargaining with political bosses in the regions seem to be losing their grip.
They’re not totally discarded but candidates’ new passion seems to be splurging on ads.
Some light may come when votes are counted and advertising bills added up. But how much does one credit to ads and how much to other strategies?
Effect of scandals
l How will scandals shape chances of those involved in them, not yet fully investigated much more tried?
There have been a lot of complaints, real or trumped up, against local aspirants. Some Senate bets also have skeletons they’d rather keep in the closet and let voters forget.
How a candidate survives bad press and sometimes unforgiving public is only guessed about, not plotted with certainty.
But the question that bugs most of us is how the Filipino voter will perform, if he can resist pressures of corruption and coercion, and what his voting literacy is on voting day.
That’s the all-time imponderable, election after election. [Sun.Star Cebu]
