The Philippines choose their next president. Attack on a polling station, three dead

Ballots open in the Philippines , where today we vote for the next president .

About 67 million Filipinos are called to vote between 6:00 and 19:00 local time, including for the vice president, deputies, half of the senators, the 81 provincial governors and other local officials.

Analysts expect strong turnout.

There are 10 candidates in the running to succeed President Rodrigo Duterte , in a single round in which a relative majority is sufficient to be elected. And Ferdinand Marcos Jr , 64, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, far ahead in the polls, seems on track to complete the return to power of the fallen dynasty nearly 40 years after his exile .

After six years of Duterte's authoritarian rule, human rights activists, leaders of the Catholic Church and political analysts fear that Marcos Jr could achieve a landslide victory and lead the country with an even heavier hand.

THE ATTACK - Meanwhile, in a polling station, three security guards were killed in the southern Philippines when gunmen opened fire , police said.

The shooting took place shortly after the start of the elections in the municipality of Buluan , on the island of Mindanao, where numerous armed groups, from communist rebels to Islamist militants, are rampant. A fourth guard was injured, Maguindanao Provincial Police spokesman Roldan Kuntong said.

The attack occurred after another explosion occurred late Sunday evening in front of a polling station in the municipality of Datu Unsay, also on the island of Mindanao.

(Unioneonline / D)