2025 elections: Lessons

Fostering collective action

- THE VIEW FROM RIZAL DR. JUN YNARES

“What lessons did the recent elections teach us?” I have been asked this question quite a lot lately.

The question came from members of the media, colleagues in the public service profession, and young people millennials and Gen Zs who have shown a lot of interest in this democratic exercise. They pointed out that there have been a number of “surprises” in the recent polls and were hoping to get some insight into what may have brought them about.

Our view is that the 2025 elections may have brought some “surprising” results, but the principles underlying the results have remained the same. To this day, especially at the local community level, the main basis for voter preference remains to be “performance.”

“Performance” is understood by our countrymen as “may nagawa na” (have done something for us), “may napatunayan na” (have proven something to us), and “may naipakita nanggaling” (have shown competence). It is clear that today’s Filipino voters, including the vaunted youth vote, demanded “proof” from those who vied for the votes. The best “proof,” as far as they are concerned is still “performance.”

There were other possible bases for voters’ choice of which candidates in the 2025 polls used.