Cagayan's 2nd legislative district special election, 2011

2011 special election at Cagayan's 2nd legislative district

March 12, 2011

Candidate Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso Edgar Lara Party Lakas-Kampi Liberal Popular vote 69,461 26,582 Percentage 73.62 27.68

Representative before election Florencio Vargas Lakas-Kampi Representative-elect Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso Lakas-Kampi

A special election for Cagayan's 2nd district seat in the House of Representatives of the Philippines was held on March 12, 2011. The special election was called after the incumbent representative, Florencio Vargas died on July 2010. Vargas' daughter, Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso, was elected after beating former Governor of Cagayan Edgar Lara, Vargas' opponent in the 2010 election. Alfonso shall serve the remainder of her father's term which will end in 2013.

Background

Incumbent representative Florencio Vargas of Lakas-Kampi-CMD won the general election on May 10, 2010. His term began on June 30, but he died on July 22, a few days before the 15th Congress convened.^[1] The two other congressmen from Cagayan, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr. and Randolph Ting, then filed a resolution declaring Vargas' seat vacant paving way for a special election. Defeated candidate and former governor Edgar Lara had previously expressed interest in participating if a special election was called, and also said that he expects any member of the Vargas family to run as well.^[2] On December 13, Representative Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr. was designated by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. as the caretaker of the 2nd district pending the approval of a special election.^[3]

The Commission on Elections has set the election on March 12, 2011, Saturday. The period for the filing of certificates of candidacy will be from February 21 to 25, and the campaign period will be from February 26 to March 10. Unlike the general election, the special election will be conducted manually.^[4]

Campaign

Only two candidates Lara, formerly of the Nationalist People's Coalition, will be the ruling Liberal Party's nominee for the special election, while Vargas' daughter, Abulug vice mayor Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso, is his opponent.^[5]

President Aquino and the ruling Liberal Party are supporting Lara's candidacy while Cagayan governor Alvaro Antonio and 1st district representative Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr.'s Team Cagayan coalition supports Alfonso, the daughter of the late representative. Alfonso is running under the Lakas Kampi CMD banner.^[6]

Results

2011 Philippine House of Representatives special election at Cagayan's 2nd district[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lakas-Kampi	Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso	69,461	72.32	−0.89
	Liberal	Edgar Lara	26,582	27.68	+3.41
Turnout			96,043	62.09	−18.89
Margin of victory			42,879	44.65	−4.29
	Lakas-Kampi hold		Swing	1.26

Alfonso was declared the winner after the Commission on Elections finished canvassing in ten of the twelve municipalities in the district. The low turnout was blamed on residents residing outside the district not returning to their homes during the weekend, and the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in which voters were discouraged from casting their votes when residents from the coastal towns of the district evacuated due to a tsunami alert and only returned morning of election day.^[8]

Alfonso was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives on March 16, raising its membership to 284, the largest in its history.^[9]

2010 election result

Philippine House of Representatives election at Cagayan's 2nd district
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Lakas-Kampi	Florencio Vargas	85,376	73.21
	NPC	Edgar Lara	28,303	24.27
	Aksyon	Lydia Ramos	2,938	2.52
Valid ballots			116,617	93.10	{{{change}}}
Invalid or blank votes			8,646	6.90%
Total votes			125,263	100.00
	Lakas-Kampi hold

References

1. Ribaya, Rio Rose (2010-07-23). "Cagayan Rep. Florencio Vargas, 78". The Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
2. Boehnert, Ted (2010-09-14). "Solons seek special polls for vacant congressional seat in Cagayan". The Daily Tribune. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
3. Romero, Paolo (2010-12-13). "Enrile Jr. named 'caretaker' of Cagayan second district". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
4. "DZIQ: Special elections for Cagayan's 2nd District set on March 12". INQUIRER.net. 2011-01-06. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
5. Lagasca, Charlie (2011-02-15). "Nueva Vizcaya first gun ban violator nabbed". Retrieved 2011-03-03.
6. Lagasca, Charlie (2011-03-12). "All's set for Cagayan special poll today". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
7. Baccay, Oliver (2011-03-13). "Alfonso-Vargas proclaimed newly elected rep of 2nd district of Cagayan". Philippine Information Agency. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
8. Visaya, Villamor Jr. (2011-03-13). "Daughter elected to serve term left by late Cagayan solon". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
9. "Daughter replaces deceased father as Cagayan rep". GMANews.TV. 2011-03-16. Retrieved 2011-03-17.

External links

• COMELEC Resolution No. 9109