FACT-CHECK: Duterte does not have the authority to declare a failure of elections

CLAIM:  Duterte can declare a failure of elections and install a revolutionary government.

RATING: FALSE

Fashion designer Gian Henderson wrote in his social media account:

To those people/candidate na magtatangkang mandaya sa eleksyon sa Lunes, do be mindful, once na magkaroon ng gulo dyan at magkaroon ng malawakang dayaan, as the sitting president, President Duterte will declare “Failure of Elections”.

This is false.

Under the 1987 Constitution, the president does not have the power to declare a failure of elections.  That power rests solely on the Commission on Elections (Comelec), a constitutional body tasked to “enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of an election, plebiscite, initiative, referendum, and recall,” under Article IX C, Sec. 2 of the 1987 Constitution.

Under Article I, Sec. 6 of the Omnibus Election Code, only the Comelec has the power to declare a failure of elections. — Rommel F. Lopez

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